In Romania and Turkey there's kids in orphanages that are disabled the parents leave them there because they have no visible means to support them.  Every year a kid spends in an orphanage the louse one year of learning so we gotta under the CRPD we gotta make everything more normal for them. Right now disabled individuals in turkey and Romania have no rights and money should be going the the parents instead of orphanages.  This must happen all over the world but we never hear about it so it's a good thing that the Washington post had an article about it so if you want to read about it hear it is

Orphanages are no place for children

My Interview with Bob

I probably asked him questions that nobody ever asked him. I guess when he was going to school his teachers encouraged him to pursue art. He told us all about the movie he's making now, he sent it to an art festival in Sebastopol.  I think he's a good artist I watched him do a couple of the things he gets paid for.  He's self taught, he taught himself how to draw and to paint. It took him two years to do the movie "Mysterious Place" that's at the Sonoma County museum right now.  It's on the 3rd story till the end of Sept if anyone's interested. 

Trying to get out of the group home

Because of what happened 7 years ago, I got a piece of hamburger stuck in my lung instead of going into my stomach.  So the way we had to get it out was to have surgery and they also put the J-tube in at the same time. Because I had aspiration pneumonia I had no choice in the matter they only gave me 15 minutes to decide about the operation or they said I would die.  So I ended up in a group home which I do not like. I've been in a group home ever since. They restrict me from living my life.  For instance let's say I met a girl I would not be able to have a full relationship if you know what I mean. 

I liked it very much because I pick to when I went out and what buses I took I was much more independent I went to the grocery store every weekend and I got to choose what to do and I had a couple small parties form my church. and I was able to drink alcohol which I can't do with this stupid tube.  I got involved with a mens gay group until I got sick and I enjoyed that because they were men I could talk to about different things like the bible and stuff.

They made lots of promisses to me when I moved into the group home but they never followed through.  Like that I could go out as much as I wanted, then they told me they didn't have proper staff.  The only reason I'm still at bi is I refused to go to their day program. It consists of taking labels off cans and bundling newspapers no wonder my friend "L" goes crazy there.

I've been reading a story about a young woman with downs syndrome named Jenny Hatch and her mother wanted her to live in a group home but she wanted to live in the community with her friends.  It took a year for her to win her battle in court. In the group home they took away her cell phone, her computer and they would not let her use the house phone. She was not allowed to leave the house, she was not allowed to see her friends at the thrift store where she used to work. She only got to see them once, after the visit the group home said she had behaviors and she couldn't have any visitors after that.. This could be me if this was California, but I do get to use the phone, I do get to go to work every day, but for the lack of freedom it's just like me.

Disabled people in Nepal have a hard time getting and education some children have to move from village to village to get an education. They have inadequate schools for the disabled in Nepal . Balkumari is 21 years old and now lives with her aunt and uncle and goes from village to village to try and convince parents to let their kids go to school.  She wants to help younger children get an education like she did.


In Nepal they keep holding the kids with disabilities back,  and when it comes to the disabled the teachers are complacently untrained. The organize Human Rights Watch thinks that the passing of the "Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" would help counties like Nepal get it's educational system on its feet. there are disabled kids all over but they're stuck at home their parents never let them out of the house.

Prudence is a disabled girl form Zimbabwe south Africa and she's part of a musical group a band. and they just made a movie about her she just got an academy award int he short film category. 

I read an article on caps for malpractice victims.  The guy is totally blind and has Cerebral Palsy because he was denied a medical test when he needed it.  What if his parents die and they have to put him in an institution.  We the taxpayers, because of their mistake, have to pay for the rest of his life.  Doctors should make medical decisions not insurance companies.

The law should be repealed.  The cap is outdated.  They should not limit settlements to $250,000,  they should get rid of it all together.  Doctors, Hospitals and their Insurance companies should be held accountable.  If they don’t pay the taxpayer gets the bill, taxpayers should not have to pay for mistakes of others.  If it’s just a slap on the wrist they might do it again.  Do we want them to keep doing this?  Make them think about it, they should make changes so bad things don’t happen again.  If they make fewer mistakes there would be fewer people with disabilities.

It’s time to change the law.

They should do a case by case basis because each case is a different circumstance.  People who are injured need the money to take care of them for the rest of their lives.  Juries and Judges should decide how much to award, not insurance companies who just want to make endless profit.  These same insurance companies will not give life insurance to disabled people.

There should be no caps on medical claims because what if the person ends up brain damaged or disabled,

they lost the life they would have had.  They’re going to be  disabled for the rest of their life.  They could have been the next president or invented a new kind of wheelchair.

 Last week I had the opportunity to attend the 'Access Now ! Regional Power Summit.' www.cilberkeley.org
There were discussions about housing, medical, and other disability rights topics.
It was held at the Ed Roberts building in Berkely. It was held over a two day symposium. The first day was used to formulate ideas. The second day was to streamline the first days brainstorm.
I attended through the Law and Justice Center here in Santa Rosa.
One of my favorite speakers was Anita Shafer Aaron of the World Institute on Disability. The things that struck about this woman were that she is completely blind, and runs the institute ( with minimal staffing ) by herself. She spoke about curb cuts when there were none. This was a large issue for me when i was growing up. I was not able to even go to the movies without sneaking in the back door. This touched me personally because I had dealt with these issues for a long time.
I also would like to recognize April Wick from The Law and Justice Center. Thank you so much for inviting and taking me along! And to Becoming Independent for providing transportation.