Michigan Disability Resistance

Boys 11 to 14 years of age who sustained concussion while playing hockey showed signs of brain injury that persisted long after clinical scores returned to normal, researchers said.

Clinical composite scores shot up immediately after concussion but returned to control levels within 24 days on average, the study authors reported online in Neurology.

After 3 months, however, changes seen on longitudinal multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) persisted, including diffusion abnormalities within several white matter tracts, functional hyperconnectivity, and 10% decreases in choline levels.

Plummeting supply: A Freddie Mac report finds that the number of affordable apartments fell by more than 60 percent over the past six years for households making less than 50 percent of the area median income. The Washington Post reports:

“We have a rapidly diminishing supply of affordable housing, with rent growth outstripping income growth in most major metro areas,” said David Brickman, executive vice president and head of Freddie Mac Multifamily. “This doesn’t just reflect a change in the housing stock.”

Pennhurst and Willowbrook taught me that institutionalization could be defeated....

https://goo.gl/mznsvf

This program commemorates the 30th anniversary of the closing of Pennhurst State School and Hospital (November 1987), a state-funded and managed institution for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

In the age of eugenics, Pennhurst was imagined as a model facility, and a solution to the problem of hereditary 'feeblemindedness.' Instead it became a nightmare institution where exploitation, abuse, and medical experimentation were commonplace. 

Over eight decades (1908-1987), more than 10,600 citizens were incarcerated at Pennhurst. As public controversy swirled and the federal courts intervened, Pennhurst became the epicenter of the disability civil rights movement in America. A panel of participant-experts will lead a discussion of Pennhurst's place in the history of disability rights and public policy. Each participant is affiliated with the Pennhurst Memorial and Preservation Alliance. A display detailing Pennhurst's history will also be available to view

I hope the case law is up to snuff....

https://goo.gl/6EjDQw

The U.S. Department of Education is withdrawing dozens of guidance documents addressing everything from transition to due process as part of a Trump administration effort to do away with unnecessary regulation.

The Education Department said Friday that it has rescinded 72 guidance documents — 63 from the Office of Special Education Programs and nine from the Rehabilitation Services Administration — some of which have been on record for decades.

The move comes as the agency works to follow through on an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in February requiring the federal government to “to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens.”

Guidance documents flagged by the review touch on special education funding, least restrictive environment, private placements, employment and more. Some were issued as recently as 2014 while others have been around since the 1980s.

Since receiving $24.8 million from Medicaid to remove lead from contaminated homes almost a year ago, the Department of Health and Human Services has abated only 23 homes of lead in Flint.

Another 47 Flint homes are undergoing cleanup. So far, $660,200 of those Medicaid funds have been spent in Flint and another $730,500 spent elsewhere, state officials said.

It can take a long time to remove lead from a house—close to three to five months—but before removal can happen, contractors need to be available. And there just aren’t enough.

“It’s the biggest impediment to spending those dollars,” said Tina Reynolds, the health policy director of the Michigan Environmental Council. “Lead risk assessors and contractors are in short supply. It’s related to us only having so much money to hire them so there was only a small pool of people willing to do the work.”

Michigan is the first state to receive Medicaid funding for lead removal. Some of it can be spent in communities other than Flint, which received nationwide attention for lead contamination in its drinking water.

To fully take advantage of that money and combat the shortage, the health agency has hired someone to help increase the number of lead contractors. The new workforce development coordinator is entrusted with finding those that could become lead contractors.