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HONOLULU, July 30 -- Following the lead of 16 other U.S. states, the Eye of the
Pacific Guide Dogs and Mobility Services Inc. last week pushed for a state
law that would make it illegal to allow an aggressive dog to injure or kill
any guide, signal or service dog.
The proposed bill is in response to a number of recent cases in which loose
dogs have attacked service dogs, that typically are not trained to defend
themselves. The group wants the law to include a fine of up to $10,000 along
with substantial jail time for the attacking dogs' owner.
To many people who rely on service animals, such an attack is not only a
threat to their own independence but their safety as well. These
well-trained animals usually cost thousands of dollars. "There's nothing out there to protect service animals," Virgil Stinnett, 31,
told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
Stinnett, who is blind, introduced the legislation last week. His guide dog,
Brandon, was attacked by two loose pit bull terriers last year. The pit bulls' owner had to pay a $20 fine.
LONDON, ENGLAND--When Mark Bagley arrived at Mr. Chu's China Palace for
lunch earlier this week, he had trouble getting into a parking space
reserved for drivers with disabilities. A Jaguar limousine was parked with
two wheels in what is called the orange badge zone. Bagley wheeled into the restaurant and found that the culprit was
none other than Deputy Prime Minster John Prescott. More.
PHILADELPHIA --Karin DiNardi was supposed to be to work at 9:30
last Wednesday morning. She was ready for her ride on the SEPTA paratransit van at the scheduled
pick up time of 8:15. But the van did not arrive.MORE.
BALTIMORE, July 24, 2001--Disability rights advocates from Maryland ADAPT, TASH
and other groups took over a conference room at Governor Parris N.
Glendening's office on Monday and held it for more than six hours.
The group had been meeting with the governor's chief of staff Alvin C.
Collins and other staff members to discuss the lack of funds to implement
the state's Olmstead plan to provide services for people with disabilities
in their communities instead of nursing homes and institutions. MORE.
July 20, 2001
POST FALLS, IDAHO--The U.S. Department of Justice has sued an Idaho
developer for violating the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with
Disabilities Act by failing to include accessibility features in a new
apartment complex. More.
July 18, 2001
STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA--Robert Wendland, the man who had been at the center of
a family's legal battle over his so-called "right to die", passed away in
his hospital room Tuesday afternoon. More.
WASHINGTON, DC, July 17, 2001 --The complaint rate for Washington's MetroAccess
transportation service, the program that transports about 17,500 people with
disabilities, has doubled over the past
two years. Right now the service
receives about 600 complaints per month.
LogistiCare, the company that has been providing the service, says it picks
people up and delivers them on time about 90 percent of the time. Still,
many complain of having to wait for up to five hours for a scheduled
pick-up.
Metro blames LogistiCare for its inefficiencies. LogistiCare blames Metro
for mistakes made when it wrote the contract.
Nobody seems quite sure how to fix the problem, but it is clear that the
people who depend on the service are the ones who end up suffering, over and
over again, according to a story from
The Washington Post:
The problem is, under current law, if the two were to get married they would
earn more than allowed under Medicaid.
The two, who have cerebral palsy, have been lobbying lawmakers to pass a
measure that would allow them and around 50,000 other New York state
residents to buy into the Medicaid program.
But the bill is buried in a state budget that was due in April, according to
a story from Syracuse Newspapers Online.
This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion
Daily Express Email News Service.
This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion
Daily Express Email News Service.
Some parents are protesting the decision, saying they are worried because
the plans call for children with a variety of disabilities -- ranging from 6
to 11 years of age -- to be placed in the same classroom.
"If you look at the norm, you wouldn't be putting a 6-year-old in with a
10-year-old," Diane Lee, from Tennessee's Protection and Advocacy Inc told
the Nashville Tennessean. Read story in Monday's Tennessean.
WASHINGTON, DC--Linda Royster says a decision made by Shoppers Food
Warehouse to improve accessibility at its 40 local stores not only settles
the civil rights lawsuit filed against the supermarket chain, but also is
good business.
"It's a win-win," said Royster, executive director of the Disability Rights
Council of Greater Washington, which filed the suit on behalf of people with
disabilities last year.
"It results in more customers for them, better publicity and better customer
relations."
While investigating complaints from potential customers who use wheelchairs,
the council found that nearly every store had barriers blocking access.
The agreement to make the stores more accessible will likely carry to other
stores owned and operated by the Shoppers Food Warehouse's parent company
Supervalu Inc., which is the 10th largest supermarket retailer in the
country, according to a July 3 Washington Post story.
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