 
Jul 14 2010
COLUMBUS
Her resume attracted plenty of attention.
Hospitals, technology companies and a major research organization indicated that Chelsea Ridenour — computer and math whiz, summa cum laude graduate of Capital University — looked good on paper. Some called for interviews.
And then, suddenly, it didn’t seem to matter that she is intelligent and dependable and tenacious. Ridenour can communicate with a computer in six languages, but she can’t chat her way through a face-to-face meeting with a stranger.
”People try to be nice. They’re not deliberately not nice,” the Hilliard resident said. ”They just don’t understand.”
Ridenour is among a rising population of young adults whose coming-of-age stories are at best complicated and oftentimes heartbreaking. They are grown-ups with Asperger’s syndrome and other autism disorders, conditions that society seems to handle best when boys and girls are young and in school.
But Ridenour is 23. What she needs is a job.
”My pitch always has been, ‘There’s a buyer for every house. Why don’t we find the buyers for these kids who want to work?”’ said Tom Fish of the Ohio State University Nisonger Center, a support and research institute for people with developmental disabilities.
”The challenge with people on the (autism) spectrum, of course, is social interaction,” he said. ”People look at these kids and say, ‘Be more social.’ Well, they can’t.”
Many young people with Asperger’s syndrome, or ”high-functioning” forms of autism, emerge from years of struggle, bullying and isolation in high school only to find that the adult world can be even more difficult. According to the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence, national studies have found that only 6 percent to 14 percent of adults with autism are competitively employed.
Yet many possess normal — and in a lot of cases, superior — intellectual abilities.
Read in Full:Â http://www.sanduskyregister.com/jobs/2010/jul/14/autistic-adults-ohio-have-hard-time-finding-work
Jan
22
 
Michelle McCarter was never a gardener. A stay-at-home mom, she was always busy juggling the packed schedules of three children.
A garden, much less a butterfly garden, was not on top of her to-do list. Especially considering that she had no experience.
“I didn’t know anything about gardening,” she said.
But she had noticed something about Margaux, her autistic daughter. Margaux, who was 6 at the time, had a heightened sense of touch. The dirt, the digging, the watering – it would create a world of textures for Margaux’s little hands to explore.
And butterflies.
Butterflies, with their fluttering and vibrant colors, would give Margaux something to watch and hold.
“I worked in Margaux’s class and so we started making a garden for the children,” she said.
McCarter, whose gardening philosophy entailed “dig a hole and shove it in,” learned through the tried-and-true method of “playing around.”
“Some plants died, others made it,” she said.
She grew milkweed, cone flowers, and passion vine, providing a buffet of nectars to lure the butterflies.
“Butterflies live off of weeds. So, at the very least, the plants aren’t finicky. They are hearty and aren’t water hungry,” McCarter said.
Beyond facilitating the life of her plants, McCarter experimented with landscaping, carefully arranging the plants to grow in a pleasing sprawl of colors and shapes.
“That was all self-taught, too,” McCarter said.
When the family moved to Torrance from Mission Viejo two years ago, McCarter turned their new yard into a virtual butterfly home, winding milkweed through her planters and setting up trellises from which the butterflies could hang their cocoons.
“My neighbor said, `There are no butterflies here,”‘ McCarter recalls. “I changed that.”
Monarchs and gulf fritillaries soon populated her yard with their gentle presence.
Margaux is now 11. Her father, Rick McCarter, said he has seen his daughter blossom in the garden.
“I enjoy watching my wife and daughter in the garden together,” he said. “It is so rewarding. Autism is a weird thing, and for Margaux, it calms her down to be in the garden. I love how she gets a kick out of it and just enjoys being in nature. She likes to water, work the soils together and look for cocoons. She has compulsive disorder so this breaks up her day in a good way.”
Michelle McCarter said having a garden is a blessing for her, too.
“I garden to de-stress,” she said. “It’s my place to be at rest.”
She has a front seat to the captivating cycles of butterfly life: from prickly black caterpillar to nugget-sized cocoon to stunning butterfly.
She likes the gentle nature of the butterflies and the interaction.
Read in Full:Â http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15485066?source=rss
Jan
22
Â
Michelle McCarter was never a gardener. A stay-at-home mom, she was always busy juggling the packed schedules of three children.
A garden, much less a butterfly garden, was not on top of her to-do list. Especially considering that she had no experience.
“I didn’t know anything about gardening,” she said.
But she had noticed something about Margaux, her autistic daughter. Margaux, who was 6 at the time, had a heightened sense of touch. The dirt, the digging, the watering – it would create a world of textures for Margaux’s little hands to explore.
And butterflies.
Butterflies, with their fluttering and vibrant colors, would give Margaux something to watch and hold.
“I worked in Margaux’s class and so we started making a garden for the children,” she said.
McCarter, whose gardening philosophy entailed “dig a hole and shove it in,” learned through the tried-and-true method of “playing around.”
“Some plants died, others made it,” she said.
She grew milkweed, cone flowers, and passion vine, providing a buffet of nectars to lure the butterflies.
“Butterflies live off of weeds. So, at the very least, the plants aren’t finicky. They are hearty and aren’t water hungry,” McCarter said.
Beyond facilitating the life of her plants, McCarter experimented with landscaping, carefully arranging the plants to grow in a pleasing sprawl of colors and shapes.
“That was all self-taught, too,” McCarter said.
When the family moved to Torrance from Mission Viejo two years ago, McCarter turned their new yard into a virtual butterfly home, winding milkweed through her planters and setting up trellises from which the butterflies could hang their cocoons.
“My neighbor said, `There are no butterflies here,”‘ McCarter recalls. “I changed that.”
Monarchs and gulf fritillaries soon populated her yard with their gentle presence.
Margaux is now 11. Her father, Rick McCarter, said he has seen his daughter blossom in the garden.
“I enjoy watching my wife and daughter in the garden together,” he said. “It is so rewarding. Autism is a weird thing, and for Margaux, it calms her down to be in the garden. I love how she gets a kick out of it and just enjoys being in nature. She likes to water, work the soils together and look for cocoons. She has compulsive disorder so this breaks up her day in a good way.”
Michelle McCarter said having a garden is a blessing for her, too.
“I garden to de-stress,” she said. “It’s my place to be at rest.”
She has a front seat to the captivating cycles of butterfly life: from prickly black caterpillar to nugget-sized cocoon to stunning butterfly.
She likes the gentle nature of the butterflies and the interaction.
Read in Full:Â http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15485066?source=rss
 
by Laurie Roberts – Jul. 10, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
If you were anywhere near north Tempe around midmorning Friday, you might have noticed a brief uptick in the temperature. I think it was the glow from Jerry Fischer’s face.
Jerry, you see, had just heard that he’s going back to work, and his smile was enough to warm even the coldest heart at the Arizona Legislature where our leaders this year were forced to make “tough choices.”
Unfortunately, one of those tough choices involved Jerry and 700 others who, like him, have mental disabilities. In order to save $3.7 million, the state cut them loose.
Jerry, 51, has Down syndrome
and lives with his brother Jack Florez in Glendale. For 11 years, Jerry has gone to VALLEYLIFE, formerly the Valley of the Sun School and Habilitation Center, where he has participated in a vocational program supported by state tax dollars.
Though there is a lot that Jerry can’t do, there is a fair amount that he can do, and with VALLEYLIFE’s help, he has been able to go to work and earn a paycheck and feel like he has something to offer the world.
Read More …Â http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/07/10/20100710roberts0710.html
Â
by Laurie Roberts – Jul. 10, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
If you were anywhere near north Tempe around midmorning Friday, you might have noticed a brief uptick in the temperature. I think it was the glow from Jerry Fischer’s face.
Jerry, you see, had just heard that he’s going back to work, and his smile was enough to warm even the coldest heart at the Arizona Legislature where our leaders this year were forced to make “tough choices.”
Unfortunately, one of those tough choices involved Jerry and 700 others who, like him, have mental disabilities. In order to save $3.7 million, the state cut them loose.
Jerry, 51, has Down syndrome and lives with his brother Jack Florez in Glendale. For 11 years, Jerry has gone to VALLEYLIFE, formerly the Valley of the Sun School and Habilitation Center, where he has participated in a vocational program supported by state tax dollars.
Though there is a lot that Jerry can’t do, there is a fair amount that he can do, and with VALLEYLIFE’s help, he has been able to go to work and earn a paycheck and feel like he has something to offer the world.
Read More …Â http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/07/10/20100710roberts0710.html
Jan
22
 
- From: Sunday Mail (SA)
- July 11, 2010
And all because she had autism.
Being taunted, teased and shoved around had been part of the 13-year-old’s life – until, fed up and utterly despairing, she decided to make a stand.
Tired of trying to put up with the constant bullying, the brave teen wrote a letter and read it out at assembly at her Port Pirie school, Airdale Primary.
“It came from my heart,” Chloe told the Sunday Mail.
“I wasn’t feeling anxious or have butterflies in my tummy when I got up there – I just expressed how I was feeling.”
It was a courageous act but, despite her plea, it has had little success – the bullying has continued and Chloe still spends most of her school life in solitude, too frightened to leave the classroom.
Read in Full:Â http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/girls-plea-to-stop-bullies/story-e6frea8c-1225890336931
Jan
22
Â
- From: Sunday Mail (SA)
- July 11, 2010
And all because she had autism.
Being taunted, teased and shoved around had been part of the 13-year-old’s life – until, fed up and utterly despairing, she decided to make a stand.
Tired of trying to put up with the constant bullying, the brave teen wrote a letter and read it out at assembly at her Port Pirie school, Airdale Primary.
“It came from my heart,” Chloe told the Sunday Mail.
“I wasn’t feeling anxious or have butterflies in my tummy when I got up there – I just expressed how I was feeling.”
It was a courageous act but, despite her plea, it has had little success – the bullying has continued and Chloe still spends most of her school life in solitude, too frightened to leave the classroom.
Read in Full:Â http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/girls-plea-to-stop-bullies/story-e6frea8c-1225890336931
 
W.B. Groen1,2,3, C. Tesink2,3, K.M. Petersson3,4, J. van Berkum4, R.J. van der Gaag1,2, P. Hagoort3,4 and J.K. Buitelaar1,2Â
1 Karakter, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Center, Karakter, 6525 GC Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 2 Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, 6500 HB Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 3 Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders, 6500 HB Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 4 Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Max, 6525 XD Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Â
Address corresponding to Wouter Bastiaan Groen, MD, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Email: w.groen@psy.umcn.nl.
Language in high-functioning autism is characterized by pragmaticand semantic deficits, and people with autism have a reducedtendency to integrate information. Because the left and rightinferior frontal (LIF and RIF) regions are implicated with integrationof speaker information, world knowledge, and semantic knowledge,we hypothesized that abnormal functioning of the LIF and RIFregions might contribute to pragmatic and semantic languagedeficits in autism.
Read in Full:Â http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/20/8/1937?rss=1
Â
W.B. Groen1,2,3, C. Tesink2,3, K.M. Petersson3,4, J. van Berkum4, R.J. van der Gaag1,2, P. Hagoort3,4 and J.K. Buitelaar1,2Â
1 Karakter, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Center, Karakter, 6525 GC Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 2 Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, 6500 HB Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 3 Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders, 6500 HB Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 4 Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Max, 6525 XD Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Â
Address corresponding to Wouter Bastiaan Groen, MD, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Email: w.groen@psy.umcn.nl.
Language in high-functioning autism is characterized by pragmaticand semantic deficits, and people with autism have a reducedtendency to integrate information. Because the left and rightinferior frontal (LIF and RIF) regions are implicated with integrationof speaker information, world knowledge, and semantic knowledge,we hypothesized that abnormal functioning of the LIF and RIFregions might contribute to pragmatic and semantic languagedeficits in autism.
Read in Full:Â http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/20/8/1937?rss=1
 
Welcome to another edition of the disability e-news.
We’ve had some great progress since the last edition of the e-news. I’m particularly pleased with today’s launch of the Liveable Housing Design standards – a leap forward for the rights ot people with disabilities in the place it matters most: their own homes. The aim is eventually for adaptable design to be incorporated into every new house – so that people with disabilities don’t have to spend a fortune adapting houses to suit their needs. A little bit of extra expense at the design stage saves a lot of money down the track.
You will find more information about Liveable Housing Design below, not to mention some other good news and achievements from the last month.
I hope you enjoy this edition of the e-news!
Regards,
Bill.
Â
Liveable Housing Design standards
This morning we launched the first ever Liveable Housing Design standards in Australia, a voluntary standard that will encourage people to build homes that can be adapted to meet their needs throughout their lifetime.
And the Gillard Labor Government putting $1 million forward to promote Liveable Housing with the property and construction sectors.
This is a great leap forward and a fantastic example of what can be achieved when government, industry and people with disabilities all work together.
The launch also received some good media coverage, including reports in the Sydney Morning HeraldDaily Telegraph. and the
National Disability Awards – we need your help!
We need your help to get as many nominations for the National Disability Awards as possible before the 23 July deadline!
Nominations are open to people with disability who have contributed to their community, those who have helped improve the lives of people with disability, and people with disability or their carers who have overcome adversity to achieve personal goals.
Last year’s awards recognised the commitment of some great advocates and fighters for people with disability. It’d be great to see all disability organisations make at least one nomination for someone they believe has made a real difference.
The fight for equal rights and fair treatment for people with disability is carried out every day by thousands of Australians who deserve recognition through these Awards.
Award recipients will be announced at a gala dinner held at the Great Hall in Parliament House, Canberra on 23 November 2010.
All Australians can nominate someone they know in one of the six Award categories.
- Minister’s Lifelong Achievement Award
- Young Disability Challenge Award
- Business Award
- Local Government Award
- Social Inclusion Award
- Accessible Housing Award
Â
National Consultation Process on UN Convention on Disability Rights
In 2008 the Australian Government signed up to the UN Convention on the rights of people with disability. As part of this we are required to report every four years on the progress we’re making in promoting those rights.
A draft report has been released and is open for comment from the community.
Â
ADE Funding
Australian Disability Enterprises have expressed concern since the Federal Budget was handed down in May about the lack of a funding increase for them in 2010/2011. I have held several meetings with ADE representatives and I have some great news to announce. ADEs will get an extra $4.5 million in 2010/2011, bringing their total Government funding to more than $204 million. We have also introduce a red-tape reduction trial, which means that ADEs will need to spend less time undertaking assessments of workers.
Â
Latest media releases
- $640,000 for inquiry into national disability care and support
- $1.4 million to help deliver print material to people with disability
- $700,000 for Barkuma disability enterprise building upgrade
- Government releases website accessibility national transition strategy
- New tax laws, to help people with severe disabilities, their families and carers, pass through Parliament
- $3 million Innovation Fund boost for disability employment
Latest speeches & transcripts
 