Their Common Life

By Jack McCallum from Bicycling

Bobby Lea is quiet. Syd Lea is exuberant. Bobby is an Olympic bike racer. Syd is a Special Olympics bike racer. One of these brothers just might need the other more than anyone ever imagined.

When brothers agree, no fortress is so strong as their common life.
—Antisthenes, Greek philosopher

ON A CHILLY AUTUMN morning in Washington, DC, with the sun still catching its last bit of sleep, the Lea family clusters around the youngest, Syd, 26, getting him ready for a 110-kilometer ride they will take together at the Audi Best Buddies Challenge, an event that pairs mainstream and intellectually challenged riders.

Read more HERE.

Fran Pavley, California State Senator, Introduces Bill To Strip The Word 'Retarded' From State Laws

By Melissa Jeltsen from The Huffington Post

A state legislator introduced a bill to remove the word "retarded" from California's law books on Wednesday, calling the word outdated and demeaning.

State Senator Fran Pavley's legislation would replace all references of mental retardation with the more accepted term "intellectual disability."

Many advocacy groups have already condemned the word. The National Down Syndrome Society states: "People with disabilities, like all people, deserve to be treated as valued citizens and not referred to in a hurtful manner for any purpose. Using the 'R word' is hurtful and suggests that people with disabilities are not competent."

Read more HERE.

Claim: Girl Denied Transplant Because She’s ‘Mentally Retarded’

By Michelle Diament from disabilityscoop

A Philadelphia hospital is taking heat after reportedly telling one mom her daughter would not be able to receive a kidney transplant because the 3-year-old has an intellectual disability.

Chrissy Rivera wrote about her daughter’s experience at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in a blog post last week. Since then, more than 18,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the hospital to reverse course.

Rivera’s daughter, Amelia, has Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, a chromosomal disorder affecting about 1 in 50,000 people that’s marked by the presence of intellectual disability, developmental delay, seizures and distinct facial characteristics.

In the posting, Rivera wrote that a doctor told her that the children’s hospital would not perform a much-needed kidney transplant because Amelia is “mentally retarded.” The doctor emphasized concerns about the girl’s quality of life given her limited cognitive abilities, according to Rivera’s account.

Read complete article HERE.

Bullying Revisited- Retarded?

In our society of child psychology and guidance counseling, one would be hard pressed to find someone who does not acknowledge the pernicious consequences and prevalence of childhood bullying.

Read more of Tim Shriver Jr. and Soeren Palumbo's Huffington Post article HERE.

House OKs "Rosa's Law"

The terms "mentally retarded" and "mental retardation" are to be replaced with “individual with an intellectual disability" and "intellectual disability."

Read Patricia E. Bauer's article HERE
View text of the law HERE
View ABC News presentation about Rosa Marcellino HERE

House Approves Bill Removing 'Mental Retardation' From Law

Article from DisabilityScoop by Michelle Diament:

The House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill Wednesday evening paving the way for the term “mental retardation” to be replaced with “intellectual disability” in many areas of federal law.

The legislation known as Rosa’s Law now goes to President Barack Obama who White House officials say intends to sign the measure.

Under the bill, the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” would be stripped from federal health, education and labor policy. “Intellectual disability” and “individual with an intellectual disability” would be inserted in their place.

The changes would occur as laws and documents come up for revision over the next several years. Since the alterations would be implemented gradually, the legislation is not expected to incur any cost.

“For far too long we have used hurtful words like ‘mental retardation’ or ‘MR’ in our federal statutes to refer to those living with intellectual disabilities,” said the bill’s sponsor Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., in a statement Wednesday. “Rosa’s Law will make a greatly-needed change that should have been made well before today — and it will encourage us to treat people the way they would like to be treated.”

The language swap would not alter the rights that individuals with disabilities have, but would merely bring the federal government more in line with a trend toward using the term “intellectual disability.” Already the term is used by most states and some federal agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rosa’s Law is named for Rosa Marcellino, a Maryland girl with Down syndrome.