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October 11, 2008 4:57:23 PM CDT

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Stories related to: disability

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13 Stories

  • September 2008

    • Time to Ditch the Word 'Retard'?

      Salon  |  Sep 21, 08 2:26 PM CDT

      Time to Ditch the Word 'Retard'?

      (Newser) - Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder is just the latest example of how the word "retard" has become a pop-culture phenom, but the movie also has served as a catalyst for disability advocates who claim that the word is offensive and must go, writes Lynn Harris in Salon. Are they right? Don't be too quick to join the these-people-can't-take-a-joke-camp. The advocates simply want people, and Harris includes herself among the offenders, "to at least think twice about the insult's real-life impact." More »

      Tags

      disability  • Tropic Thunder  • disability rights  • Down Syndrome  • hate speech

    • S. Korea's Blind Masseurs Protest Threat to Livelihood

      CNN  |  Sep 19, 08 12:54 PM CDT

      S. Korea's Blind Masseurs Protest Threat to Livelihood

      (Newser) - Blind masseurs in South Korea are protesting what they see as the end of a way of life—and their livelihood, CNN reports. Police arrested 26 yesterday who gathered on a bridge and threatened to jump because the government is for the first time allowing sighted people to become licensed masseurs. Two actually did jump, but neither were injured. The massage profession had been restricted to the legally blind since 1963. More »

      Tags

      South Korea  • blindness  • constitutionality  • disability  • masseuse  • disability rights

  • August 2008
  • July 2008

    • Americans Face Hearing Loss 'Epidemic'

      Reuters  |  Jul 29, 08 2:08 AM CDT

      Americans Face Hearing Loss 'Epidemic'

      (Newser) - Americans are likely to face an epidemic of hearing impairment in coming years as the use of personal listening devices soars and the population ages, Reuters reports. A third of adults already has hearing loss to some degree and the proportion is expected to rise significantly. White Americans, men, and the lesser educated are the worst affected, say researchers. More »

      Tags

      public health  • disability  • hearing loss  • deaf people

  • June 2008

    • Bush to Overhaul Access for Disabled

      New York Times  |  Jun 16, 08 7:19 AM CDT

      Bush to Overhaul Access for Disabled

      (Newser) - With an eye to aging Boomers and Iraq vets, the Bush administration is set to propose wide-ranging new rules to improve disabled access to public spaces from retail stores to golf courses, the New York Times reports. The move, which updates  implementation of the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, would affect 7 million businesses and all state and local government agencies. While some call the plan's $23 billion price tag too steep, advocates for the disabled say it’s not enough. More »

      Tags

      Bush administration  • White House  • disability  • disabled  • proposals

  • May 2008
  • April 2008

    • Blind Paterson Feeling His Way as NY Governor

      New York Times  |  Apr 21, 08 11:18 AM CDT

      Blind Paterson Feeling His Way as NY Governor

      (Newser) - It takes a lot of extra sweat for New York's legally blind governor to act like a person with 20/20, the New York Times reports. David Paterson spends hours each night listening to recorded staff briefings—and memorizing speeches, since he can't read a teleprompter. And though the veteran politician knows Albany well, he's still learning the layout of the governor's mansion. More »

      Tags

      New York  • Eliot Spitzer  • governor  • David Paterson  • blindness  • disability  • Governor David Paterson

    • Forget It, Baldy, You're Not Disabled: Judge

      Scotsman (UK)  |  Apr 17, 08 3:51 AM CDT

      Forget It, Baldy, You're Not Disabled: Judge

      (Newser) - A Scottish schoolteacher constantly mocked by students because of his baldness has been told having a chrome dome does not count as a disability, the Scotsman reports. The judge at an employment tribunal said that had he found in the man's favor, then anyone with a "big nose or big ears" could also be considered disabled. More »

      Tags

      judge  • Scotland  • teacher  • disability  • baldness  • tribunal

    • Raunchy Narratives Open Web Porn to Blind

      Wired  |  Apr 13, 08 11:15 AM CDT

      Raunchy Narratives Open Web Porn to Blind

      (Newser) - Looking for volunteer opportunities? The nonprofit Porn for the Blind is making free porn preview sites accessible to the blind, Wired reports. "We imagine that visually impaired people benefit from this service in many of the same ways that non-visually impaired people benefit from the hard-core pornography that's being described," said the group's co-founder. More »

      Tags

      sex  • pornography  • blindness  • nonprofit  • disability  • volunteer  • equality

  • November 2007

    • Serbs Reject Charges of Patient Abuse

      Associated Press  |  Nov 15, 07 2:45 PM CST

      Serbs Reject Charges of Patient Abuse

      (Newser) - Officials in Serbia today called "dark propaganda" a report by a US human-rights group that alleged patients with mental and physical disabilities were systematically abused, and that staff at one facility tortured retarded children. "We may be suffering staffing and financial problems," one administrator said, "but for anyone to say that we are tormenting our patients is a total lie." More »

      Tags

      health care  • Serbia  • mental health  • psychiatry  • Vojislav Kostunica  • disability

  • October 2007

    • Mastectomy Is No Disability, Court Rules

      Los Angeles Times  |  Oct 7, 07 8:47 AM CDT

      Mastectomy Is No Disability, Court Rules

      (Newser) - A South Korean court has ordered the military to reinstate a female helicopter pilot who was bounced from her job after she had a double  mastectomy to treat breast cancer. Regulations require personnel to be discharged if they're missing body parts. The case has been a flashpoint for feminists and cancer groups. More »

      Tags

      South Korea  • military  • breast cancer  • pilot  • disability  • mastectomy

  • July 2007
  • April 2007

    • Military Skimps On Soldiers' Benefits

      US News and World Report  |  Apr 9, 07 7:52 AM CDT

      Military Skimps On Soldiers' Benefits

      (Newser) - Soldiers are being deprived of disability benefits, having their injuries downgraded and even being sent back into the field when they're not fit to fight, a U.S. News investigation shows.  An arbitrary and system for rating disabilities has been a problem for years, veteran advocates say, but it's now affecting tens of thousands of soldiers. More »

      Tags

      health  • medicine  • military  • American troops  • disability

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