Meet Hannah. The picture in this online article is small, but Hannah’s face is blazoned on the top fold of the front page of the Atlanta Journal Constitution today with the headline “How Hannah Made History”. Hannah’s case is being dubbed the first autism-vaccine link case. What will happen next is anyone’s guess. I first blogged on the Federal court’s decision to pay Hannah’s parents out of the federal vaccine injury fund last week, having no idea that... more

Autism may be one of the hottest disability topics for this year’s presidential candidates. All the major candidates have addressed it in some way, which isn’t surprising, given the rapid rise in autism (1 in 150) and all those children with autism have parents and grandparents who are presumably voters.

A site called AutismFACTS has compiled information on the presidential candidates’ stance on autism and the government’s involvement. The information on this website is a bit dated, since most... more

The flip side of “where is my child going to live?” is “where will he work?”

Cary Griffin of Griffin-Hammis Associates dared us to get outside the box in thinking about this. Of course, focusing on developmental disabilities and those with severe mental disabilities, the traditional places of employment are sheltered workshops and specific jobs in the community, like janitorial work or bagging groceries. Those jobs have two basic problems. The first is that they are usually below poverty wages. The second is... more

Every time I come back from my Partners in Policymaking class, I have more to share about disability issues and some of the cutting-edge ideas in the needs and care of our largest minority: people with disabilities.

This month our topics were housing and employment. Quite frankly, since LuLu is only 11, I haven’t given that much thought to either of these topics. I can’t see a clear course for her future, so in some ways, I avoid looking ahead. But there are a few things I do know. One, she’ll need to live somewhere and that somewhere will eventually not be... more

An interesting bill passed the Georgia Senate on Friday, one that requires schools to weigh and then report the body mass index (BMI) of students. Other states are doing this, including Arkansas, the first. Arkansas’ plan as part of the Governor Huckabee’s statewide weight reduction plan.

I’m truly not sure if this is a good idea or not. I recognize how much obesity plays into health issues and how overweight the state of Georgia is. (Southern states are typically much heavier than other parts of the country.) And nationwide 34% of all children are overweight. And... more

I realize as the weekend creeps in, that this time last Friday I was feeling the same level of exhausting, frustration and gratitude that it’s the weekend. It’s been an incredible week.

1. Last Friday, our attorney emailed me a mound of paperwork from the school district of things they want me to respond to over the next few days, making more work for an already pretty busy mom. I’m highly frustrated that I have to take the time to respond. 2. On Monday, I discovered that Kay, despite doing an excellent job last semester of self-policing and keeping... more

LuLu’s history curriculum through Georgia Virtual Academy never ceases to amaze me. It is rather detailed and heavy stuff! We work on it together, reading the textbook and doing the online enrichment work.

Today’s lesson was a continuation on people immigrating to America in the late 1800s. Today’s lesson centered on how some were against immigration and the prejudice and racism that sprang up during that time period. There was information on the Ku Klux Klan, the increase of crime in the cities, and cultural neighborhoods that formed in New York and other major... more

National Public Radio (NPR) did two segments on the importance of play recently. And I think they bear watching. In Old Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills, it is pointed out that back before the mid-1950s play was not so much associated with toys as it was with unstructured free time. But the advent of television advertising and marketing to children has changed that.

Combine that with the push by parents to have children involved in organized activities and the lack of recess during... more

The last time that LuLu went to speech therapy provided by the public school she was in kindergarten. (When I said that to this speech therapist today, she was truly blown away, and just kept asking “why did they stop?”) Now here we are six years later, and today we went for her first speech therapy session through the virtual academy. Even though she’s been enrolled since November, it has taken the school awhile locate and contract with private providers.

Now a gun-shy mom like myself, who has been extremely burned by public schools could have gotten a bit nervous... more

Put on your advocacy hats and start contacting your congressmen to show your support for the bipartisan Adoption Equality Act, (S. 1462/HR 4901), which will ensure that foster children with special needs will not be denied SSI Title IV-E support based on their birth family’s income.

NACAC (the North American Council of Adoptable Children) is spearheading an advocacy effort to get other adoption and foster care organizations to partner with them in showing support for this legislation. If you are a member of an adoption or foster group, visit... more