Michigan Disability Resistance

http://bit.ly/2GoaGqg

In addition to the transcribed discussion here, you can download or listen to the audio here. For more on ROn's thinking and work, see the list on his author page. 

The ableism bingo card is in the post, but it was a big image, so I didn't post it here...

http://bit.ly/2uCNL59

A couple years ago, I was at an anti-racism training where the facilitators invited us to reflect on how they had made the space welcoming and how they had not. I listened as others gave feedback. I thought about not saying anything but it had bothered me that the registration page had listed information about gender-inclusive bathrooms and breastfeeding areas but had not explicitly invited attendees to flag any disability accommodations that they might need. I appreciated the access that they had offered, but saw a huge gap. I decided to share that feedback and came away feeling like it wasn’t received well.

In the spirit of my perpetual, uncompensated, and often tiring role as Informal Ambassador of All Things Disability, I also pointed out that I knew that they were good people because I had gone to another one of their trainings. It wasn’t that I questioned their intent or character. Had I not known them from another context, I would have hesitated to register because silence on access can be read as a message that you are not welcome. The next day, the facilitators tried again and did better—they had reflected on their miss and wanted to know more. We started again from a new place. I wanted to help and they wanted to do better; that’s the essence of repair.

I thought about this moment when I was doing that combination of cringing and laughing at Entitlement Bingo. Over the past few months, as I have vented about meetings, conferences, and the occasional school pickup to Erin, she encouraged me to write my own disability-focused bingo. We knew it would be therapeutic for me and maybe even helpful to others.

https://n.pr/2GphPXd

Treading into ethically and legally uncertain territory, a New York end-of-life agency has approved a new document that lets people stipulate in advance that they don't want food or water if they develop severe dementia.

The directive, finalized this month by the board for End Of Life Choices New York, aims to provide patients a way to hasten death in late-stage dementia, if they choose.

Dementia is a terminal illness, but even in the seven U.S. jurisdictions that allow medical aid-in-dying, it's not a condition covered by the laws. Increasingly, patients are seeking other options, says Dr. Timothy Quill, a palliative care specialist at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and longtime advocate of medical aid-in-dying.

"Developing incapacitating dementia is certainly my and a lot of people's worst nightmare," he says. "This is an aggressive document. It's a way of addressing a real problem — the prospect of advanced dementia."

The document offers two options. One option is a request for "comfort feeding" — providing oral food and water if a patient appears to enjoy or allows it during the final stages of the disease. Another alternative would halt all assisted eating and drinking, even if a patient seems willing to accept it.

But critics say it's a disturbing effort to allow withdrawal of basic sustenance from the most vulnerable in society.

"I think oral feeding is basic care," says Richard Doerflinger, an associate scholar with the Charlotte Lozier Institute, which opposes abortion and euthanasia. "It's what they want here and now that matters. If they start taking food, you give them food."

https://goo.gl/5faz4P

Old paint, old pipes and demolition dust often are sources of toxic lead. It’s a poison known to cause neurological damage in children. For adults, new science shows lead exposure increases the risk of heart disease. This week, Reveal investigates the lurking threat from the dust of urban demolitions to the wilds of Wyoming.

In Detroit, dust is a particular concern. Because of the population drop, the city is tearing down tens of thousands of empty homes. Contractors are supposed to follow strict protocols on  demolitions, but when those rules are not enforced, lead dust can drift around the neighborhood, poisoning children in unsuspecting families. Reporter Eilís O’Neill explores the impact, including the city’s lack of warnings or evaluation.

Next, we go to the Fruitvale neighborhood in Oakland, California, where the rate of kids with high lead levels in their blood is greater than in Flint, Michigan, during the height of the water crisis there. Reporters Angela Johnston and Marissa Ortega-Welch of KALW in San Francisco explain how high housing costs and lead exposure are connected and introduce us to public health nurse Diep Tran, who says lead poisoning puts enormous stress on families.

“I’ve seen parents go into shock,” Tran says. “Most of them are anxious. Some feel guilty and go into denial, which is not good for the child, because parents in denial don’t want to work with us. How can the child recover if we don’t help the family?”

She says her only option sometimes is to advise families to move to a homeless shelter to escape exposure to lead.

Paul Flory could not escape. He grew up in Idaho’s Silver Valley, a longtime mining area that’s now a lead-laced Superfund site. Host Al Letson talks with him about going to school next door to a smelter and the struggles he’s had after his childhood lead poisoning was recorded – and then largely ignored.

Finally, we discover how tiny fragments of lead bullets hurt hunters’ unintended targets: eagles, condors and other scavenging wildlife. We trace lead dust from game guts to eagle brains in Wyoming.

https://goo.gl/yXEvME

Medicare Update and Scam Alert

Starting 4/1/18, Medicare will start a yearlong project to replace all current Medicare cards for beneficiaries to convert to alphanumeric ID numbers. Currently the ID number is your social security number.
Scammers are opportunistic – First of all, the new Medicare card will come to you in the mail. You don’t need to request it or initiate anything. Your card will show up.

WHAT’S THE SCAM?
Somebody from “MEDICARE” will call to tell you that you are getting a new Medicare card. But until it comes, you will need a temporary card. The fee for the card is between $5-50 dollars. They will want personal information, including a bank account number or credit card number, so they can process your temporary card. THIS IS A SCAM!

REMEMBER
Medicare will never call you unless asked by you. Medicare facilitates all communications by mail unless you directly ask them to call. This is also true for anyone that says they are “working with Medicare to make sure you receive everything you are entitled to receive.”

TIPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF

• First of all, spread the word! Feel free to share this BLS Important Update.
• Use your answering machine to screen calls or just don’t even answer a number you don’t recognize.
• If it has happened to you or your friends or loved ones, and personal info had been given out, (happens considerably more often than you think so, don’t feel bad or stupid) immediately take action to protect yourself against identity theft.
• Visit the Government website: https://www.medicare.gov/pubs/pdf/12002-New-Medicare-Card-flyer.pdf