Cerebral Palsy

United Cerebral Palsy of Central Maryland, a nonprofit organization with locations in Arbutus and Halethorpe to support individuals with disabilities achieve independence and productivity, name these women to its board of directors: • Vanessa Jones, a Gwynn Oak resident, who works as a credentialing assistant program manager for the Maryland State Department of Education's Office of Child Care. She formerly held the position of education coordinator for the Baltimore City Child Care Resource Center Head Start.

A Reisterstown financial advisor pleaded guilty in federal court in Baltimore on Wednesday to mail fraud in connection with the theft of more than $800,000 from accounts he managed for a child suffering from cerebral palsy and for an elderly client with dementia. Ralph Edward Thomas Jr., 52, a former vice president in a subsidiary of Harbor Bank, used more than $100,000 in stolen money from the child's trust fund to buy a home, the U.S. Attorney's office said. Thomas also obtained three mortgages valued at $205,000 on the home of the child's mother, using her name without her knowledge, authorities said.

"Amazing, awesome, incredible" and "I am overjoyed" were among the responses I received to the news that the increase in the alcohol tax enacted this week by the General Assembly will help fund services for people with developmental disabilities. These responses came from families who have languished on the state's waiting list for essential supports for many years. We estimate that more than 500 children and adults with disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy and Down Syndrome will finally receive the support they desperately need.

Carlos Woods went Christmas shopping on Wednesday. He bought a snowman headband, a piggy bank shaped like a hippopotamus and a birthday card. His $5 excursion through Baltimore's Mondawmin Mall ended with a handshake and a "God bless you" from Santa. A typical outing for most children But Carlos isn't just any child, and for him, this wasn't a typical outing. Carlos, who turns 12 the day before Christmas Eve, was hit in the head by a stray bullet in April 2001 as he retrieved a juice bottle from the doorway of his Chapel Street rowhouse.

The news about the opening of a cord blood bank at Mercy Medical Center is very exciting. I applaud all of those involved who have provided expectant parents in Baltimore with an option for donating cord blood stem cells. But our work is not done, as the important job ahead is continued education on all options for cord blood stem cells. As a scientist — but more importantly, as the mother of a child who passed away after a long search for a stem cell donor — I know the difference this can make for those suffering with life-threatening illnesses.

-- The piece wasn't some naked confession about the difficulties of growing up with cerebral palsy. Instead, Hailey Reissman came at her story from the side, with a twist of humor and a touch of the profane. She called it, "I Have Cerebral Palsy and David Mamet Reveals What I Imagine The Friends Of The Guy I Am Dating Will Say When He Tells Them About Me, In Three Brief Monologues." The title encapsulates the wit and inventiveness that so impressed Reissman's professors at Washington College.

William V. Hartleb, a retired sales executive and schoolboy athlete who spent much of his adult life as an advocate for the handicapped, died at his Ellicott City home Wednesday of pancreatic cancer. He was 76. Mr. Hartleb, whose wife, Kay Hartleb, is Howard County register of wills, was praised by former teammates, associates and family members as a big man with a big heart who worked tirelessly for United Cerebral Palsy after his first child, William Keepers Hartleb, was born with the disease in 1958.

William V. Hartleb, a retired sales executive and schoolboy athlete who spent much of his adult life as an advocate for the handicapped, died at his Ellicott City home Wednesday of pancreatic cancer. He was 76. Mr. Hartleb, whose wife, Kay Hartleb, is Howard County register of wills, was praised by former teammates, associates and family members as a big man with a big heart who worked tirelessly for United Cerebral Palsy after his first child, William Keepers Hartleb, was born with the disease in 1958.

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and the Towson University fall film series marks the occasion with Jim Sheridan's "My Left Foot." It tells the tumultuous story of Irish author Christy Brown, who managed to write best-selling books despite cerebral palsy that left him with control only of his left foot (he used his little toe to type). Based on Brown's autobiography of the same name (he died in 1981), it's a robust, stirring, bracingly unsentimental account of a person overcoming disability.

Next time you face a challenge in life, think about a young man named Vince Biser. Biser, 21, just won the North American One-Armed Golfer Association championship at the tough PGA National course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Oh, Biser has two arms. But he was born with cerebral palsy and has limited vision and virtually no use of the right side of his upper body. Which means he swings a golf club with only one arm - his left. I watched him hit balls the other day on the practice range at the Country Club of Maryland, where he's a member.