Portable Wheelchair Ramps
Stepping onto a curb or getting into a car may be an effortless motion for many, but for a person in a wheelchair, it is a challenging task. Portable wheelchair ramps are specially designed to enable individuals in wheelchairs or strollers to access their homes, buildings, shower entrances and cars with ease. As they are portable and can be carried anywhere, wheelchair ramps are indispensable assets to their users reminding them that an elevated platform or a raised curb can no longer inhibit them from moving around freely.
Portable ramps have revolutionized the lifestyles of the physically disabled by enhancing their mobility and enabling them to venture into shopping malls, concert halls, cinemas and offices. By being able to move around, physically disabled individuals can now fully enjoy the social and entertainment attractions of the outside world. A portable wheelchair ramp is also a great aid for caregivers who have to accompany their wheelchair-bound patients or loved ones. When assisting them into cars, buildings and home, wheelchair ramps have certainly made their jobs much easier and less strenuous.
ADA Recommended Portable Ramps Slope
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) considers a slope greater than 1:20 along any accessible route as a handicap ramp. A slope of 1:20 means that there is a one inch rise in level along a 20-inch length run.
ADA’s guidelines indicates that building contractors should not build ramps with slope greater than 1:12 with levels rising more than 30 inches and ramps should also have maximum width of 36 inches. An ADA approved ramp should also have level landings at the top and bottom of the ramp to prevent wheelchairs from tipping over or losing balance.
Similarly, manufacturers of portable wheelchair ramps have used the basis of ADA’s safety guidelines to ensure stability, durability and reliability in their products. The recommended slope when using a portable wheelchair ramp is 1:12, which means a one-inch elevation along a 12-inch length run. For the private home user, one can also try a higher incline depending on one’s agility and strength, but one should not go beyond a slope of 1:6. Most portable ramps have lengths ranging from 5 feet to 12 feet and can withstand weight of up to 800 pounds. They are usually made from aluminum and can be folded, rolled or retracted for easy storage and loading.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Portable Wheelchair Ramps
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Jobless Rate 60 Percent Higher For Americans With Disabilities, Report Shows
A first-of-its-kind look at disability employment released Wednesday indicates that just 1 in 5 people with disabilities are employed and they’re disproportionately working part-time.
According to the report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment hovered at 14.5 percent among those with disabilities in 2009, significantly higher than the 9 percent reported for the rest of the population. Of those who did have jobs, a third had part-time positions compared to 1 in 5 workers without disabilities.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of people with disabilities — 80 percent — were not considered to be in the workforce at all because they were not seeking work. One reason for this may be that half of those with disabilities were over age 65.
Educational attainment is one factor that appeared to impact a person’s odds of employment. Nonetheless, having a disability persisted as a barrier, according to the data. When educational levels were equal, those with disabilities were still less than half as likely to have a job as those without.
The detailed breakdown represents the most comprehensive picture to date of the employment situation among Americans with disabilities. It stems from data collected in 2009, the first full year of information obtained after the Bureau of Labor Statistics began including those with disabilities in its monthly employment survey in June 2008.
Since that time, employment statistics are released monthly, reflecting people with disabilities over the age of 16 who do not live in institutions. The most recent report, issued earlier this month, indicated that in July the unemployment rate approached record levels at 16.4 percent.
The strikingly low level of employment among those with disabilities will not go unnoticed, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said in response to the latest figures. She pledged to improve capacity at one-stop career centers and access to other job support services.
“We will make sure that people who want to work can work,” Solis said.
Stem Cell Ruling Leaves Some Disability Research In Limbo
A court action earlier this week halting federal funding for research involving human embryonic stem cells is leaving some research into developmental disabilities up in the air.
On Monday, a U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction saying that federal funding of stem cell research violates a 1996 law barring federal dollars from being used for research where an embryo is destroyed. Federal officials are already appealing the decision, but in the meantime, it could put existing research projects in jeopardy.
For example, researchers are currently using stem cells to learn more about Down syndrome, but scientists at Children’s Hospital Boston say their $1 million federal research grant could be in question as a result of the ruling, reports CBS News. To read more click here.
What’s more, while there are hopes that cells taken from a person’s skin, for example, could be “reprogrammed” to behave like an embryonic stem cell, recent findings in individuals with fragile X indicate that reprogrammed cells are not picking up all traits of embryonic ones. That means that true stem cells are likely needed to better understand the condition, reports The Wall Street Journal. To read more click here.
House To Vote On Replacing ‘Mental Retardation’ With ‘Intellectual Disability’
The House of Representatives is expected to vote as early as Wednesday evening on a bill to replace the term “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability” in many areas of federal government.
The legislation known as Rosa’s Law was approved by the Senate in August. Under the bill, terminology would be altered in federal health, education and labor policy.
The House is widely expected to pass the measure when it is brought up later this week alongside several other bills that are considered uncontentious under a suspension of the rules. This means that there will be limited debate and a simplified voting procedure.
If Rosa’s Law does gain House approval, it will go to President Barack Obama, who supports the measure. ”He looks forward to signing it into law after the House passes it,” a White House official told Disability Scoop on Monday.
Under the bill, individuals with disabilities would retain the same rights they currently have, but terminology would be swapped as laws and documents come up for revision over the next several years. As a result, Rosa’s Law is not expected to incur any cost.
Nearly all states and some federal agencies already use the term “intellectual disability.”
Friday, September 17, 2010
Aspergers Syndrome
http://specialchildren.about.com/b/2009/02/12/asperger-syndrome-on-the-big-bang-theory.htm?r=et
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Stars Sign On For Comedy Central Autism Benefit
Tina Fey, Chris Rock and Steve Carell are among the stars who will perform on Comedy Central next month to raise money for education programs for children and adults with autism, the network said Thursday.
Hosted by Jon Stewart, the “Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert for Autism Education” will tape Oct. 2 and air Oct. 21. It will be the third biennial benefit for autism education to be broadcast on Comedy Central.
Other stars scheduled to perform include Lewis Black, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Ricky Gervais, Joel McHale, John Oliver, Sarah Silverman and Triumph The Insult Comic Dog.
What’s more, Sofia Vergara, Rainn Wilson, Larry David, Jimmy Kimmel and other celebrities will be on hand to answer calls from viewers wishing to donate while the program airs.
Since the event began in 2005, it has raised nearly $7 million “to help ease the severe shortage of effective schools and education programs for autistic children and adults,” the network said.
Featured Professional – Gloria
Gloria J.
We have a new Featured Professional to introduce you to! Gloria is a professional who works with kids with special needs and graciously answered a few questions.
Fun and Function: Who are you and what is your profession?
Gloria J.: I’m Gloria J. and I’m a teacher.
FF: What company do you work for?
GJ: I work for a School system in Georgia.
FF: What is Nature of special needs you work with the most?
GJ: Autism.
FF: What would you say is your biggest challenge in working with children with special needs?
GJ: Not having enough money to fund more classes, therefore there are too many children in a class.
FF: What is your greatest joy in your job?
GJ: Seeing progress made in any area, but especially hearing their first word or first true attempt at real communication.
FF: What has been the greatest help to you in your profession?
GJ: My students! They are always forcing me to do more and find better ways to reach them.
FF: Give us one tool you would hate to live without?
GJ: Boardmaker. I find it a necessary piece of equipment given the strength of the visual for the child on the spectrum.
FF: If you could give one piece of advice to a parent who’s child has just been diagnosed, what would it be?
GJ: Remember your child is still your same child. He or she just needs a different approach to learning. Begin the task of finding where to send him and who is a good one to help with this team effort. If you don’t feel an active part of this process, you may need to find a different person to help your child.
Gloria, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us and all the readers here at Fun and Function.
If you would like to be a featured parent or professional, just let me know!
'All Kids Can' Now on Facebook
CVS Caremark's All Kids Can campaign has been doing some neat things to raise awareness and visibility for children with special needs, like holding contests to create a friend with a disability for Arthur or assemble a gallery of artwork by kids with disabilities to celebrate the anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act. If you like what All Kids Can has been doing, now you can like the program on Facebook through its brand-new fan page. There are already some great photos and videos posted.
Have you found a good Facebook page of special-needs interest? Share it in the comments.
Photo Illustration by Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Is SpongeBob on the Spectrum?
I asked you to diagnose your favorite autism- or Asperger's-like TV characters, and three readers have whipped out their virtual DSM-IVs and made their assessments:
+ Reader Laura notes in SpongeBob SquarePants such sure signs as "concrete/literal thinking, poor social skills, inability to read non-verbal cues, can't detect sarcasm, strict adherence to the rules, and obsessive interest in Jellyfish resulting in an encyclopedic knowledge of same." She also thinks Henry the Penguin from the kid's show Oswald is on the spectrum.
+ Reader Jp names Bob Melnikov of ReGenesis as a character whose disorder was mentioned on the show. "The actor did a good job of portraying some of the behavior that I have seen in some of the people that I know on the spectrum -- difficulty in catching nuance, emotional cues as learned behavior, hyperinterest on specific issues."
+ Reader Analogia diagnosesBrick Heck on The Middle. "He's a quirky little guy with a little more quirks than your average quirky sitcom kid. Of note: his tendency to repeat words in a low-nodded whisper." (Of course,there's another special-needs connection with Brick -- the actor who plays him, Atticus Shaffer, has osteogenesis imperfecta.)
Where are you seeing autism on TV these days, whether the character creators intended it or not? Check out my list (updated now with the three above), and then add your own.
Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Oprah Contestant With Cerebral Palsy Makes Own Travel Videos
If you're looking for something to start your week off with a smile, go right now and view "Zach in the Buff: Niagara Falls," the latest YouTube video from Zach Anner. Zach, as you may recall, entered Oprah Winfrey's search for someone to give a show to with a very funny audition video that got attention from singer John Mayer and lots and lots of Internet voters. Rather than wait for Oprah, Zach has gone ahead and started making his own travel show, available in short videos on his YouTube channel or website. In this four-minute installment, Zach admires Buffalo railings, connects the falls to Kevin Bacon in less than six degrees, and attempts unsuccessfully to run over a seagull.
On the other hand, if you have the kind of day ahead that requires some righteous indignation, get stoked up by reading Entertainment Weekly's account of the voting irregularities that led to Zach being left out of the top five finalists for his own OWN show. Zach dismissed accusations of an Oprah conspiracy in an ABC interview in June -- but still, the huge swing in votes between the raw totals on the main screen and the adjusted ones on the winner's page sure looks bad (especially to those of us still smarting from the American Express Member's Project special-needs dumping of a couple years back).
It's Oprah's loss, anyway -- a half-hour version of Zach's hilarious travelogue looks a lot more appealing than what did make the top five. Hope somebody finds a place for the guy. For now, with voting finished, you can support Zach by following him on Twitter and Facebook, and buy a T-shirt from his site.
Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Is a "No Screaming Kids" Sign Discriminatory?
What would you do if you saw a sign on the door of a restaurant that said, "Screaming Children Will NOT Be Tolerated"?
According to an Autisable post, a woman accused a North Carolina eatery with such a sign of discriminating against children with autism -- like her son, who sometimes melts down in restaurants. A WECT News account of the dispute has the mom claiming the sign violates the Americans With Disabilities Act, and the restaurant owner expressing surprise and pointing out that "autism is not a word on that sign."
Whether or not it's a word on the sign, a "no screaming children" policy effectively shuts out kids with a lot of disabilities. I don't think I'd make a federal case of it, though. Not every restaurant is right for every child, and honestly, I'd be happy for a restaurant to be so bold as to state that so I don't have to bother spending my money there. If we're going to go to the trouble of taking our kids out, I think parents have a responsibility not just to other diners, to remove screaming kids from the premises before intolerant owners have to kick them out, but to our children, to select establishments at which they will have the greatest opportunity for success. Sometimes, knowing where not to go is a big part of the job.
If I could, I'd seek out the restaurants with signs that say "Judgmental Patrons Who Glare at Families Who Are Just Trying to Make It Through a Meal Will NOT Be Tolerated." Haven't found one of those yet, though.
Photo by Jeff Manasse/Getty Images