Disabilities

The difficult matter of Howard Fry, victim of crime and quadruple amputee, remains so: He still lives on the edge of homelessness. He continues to stay with his disabled mother in a small rowhouse in the Brooklyn section of Baltimore, and while Betty Fry manages to care for her son, he's often more than she can handle. Not only does Howard Fry have physical disabilities, but he's intellectually limited and given to outbursts of anger. "Nothing new," Betty Fry said yesterday, her 58th birthday, when I asked if any of the city or state agencies assigned to help her son have been able to find him a home.

Monica Evans smiled as she practiced her favorite part of golf, the full swing, on the driving range at Timbers at Troy Golf Course in Elkridge. A few feet away, Jim Bradley worked on his form as he whacked balls on a hot summer evening. Evans, 19, who has Down syndrome, and Bradley, 65, were taking part in a program that encourages people with and without disabilities to interact while they learn the game. The golf course in Howard County is one of two locations in the nation offering Project GAIN -- which stands for Golf: Accessible and Inclusive Networks.

Gov. Martin O'Malley is to announce three more Cabinet appointments today, a day after a state Senate committee unanimously approved seven nominees and a new people's counsel for the board that regulates utilities. The picks require final approval of the full Senate. Thirteen of 21 positions have now been filled. Cathy Raggio, executive director of a suburban Washington nonprofit organization, said yesterday that she is to replace Kristen Cox as secretary of disabilities, an office with a budget of $6.8 million that drew attention last year when then-Gov.

The Anne Arundel County Department of Aging and Disabilities is seeking volunteers for a focus group to help the agency form a marketing strategy to promote its services. Part of the problem, officials say, is that some people aren't aware of specific county services. "That has been a concern of our department," said Jeffrey Balentine, assistant director of the Department of Aging and Disabilities. "We'll hear about people saying they haven't heard of our services, so we'll try to market our department and make sure they know what we offer."

John Hudson pulls to a stop at a busy intersection on a recent afternoon in Bel Air. There are no hands on the steering wheel of his gold 2006 Dodge Caravan, and the sleeves of his shirt hang empty. But when the light turns green, Hudson steers through a smooth right turn, using a joystick he grasps with his toes. Hudson, 29, was born with no arms and one leg. He passed the driving test on his first attempt and received a Maryland driver's license last summer. "Driving is instant freedom," the Edgewood resident said.

Elizabeth Twohy, who had polio as a child, uses a wheelchair most of the day, and the list of little things that are hard to do in a wheelchair is just about endless. But she has a friend, Ike, who helps out.He picks up things she drops, turns light switches on and off, puts clothes in the dryer and takes the dishes out of the dishwasher, sorts the recyclables and brings her the telephone.The only thing that Ike can't do that would be really nice would be to drive the car, said Twohy, director of disability services for Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, N.J. Ike does have a license, but it is a dog license.

Providers struggle fo find sites for group homesYour article ("Balto. County has the most group homes," April 11) about the concentration of group homes in Baltimore County didn't really get to the heart of the struggle that providers have in siting group homes for people with disabilities. Social, political and economic barriers all combine to limit the choices that providers have in locating housing for the folks we serve.As the article suggests, the lack of decent, affordable housing plays a role in where homes are located.

SLIP ON A banana peel, and that's supposed to be funny. Whether it's old-time slapstick comedy, a Donald Duck cartoon or "America's Funniest Home Videos," we all seem eager to guffaw at another's pratfall.Slip on an orange peel, and that's grounds for a million-dollar lawsuit. Nothing funny about it. Especially if the victim ends up with serious injuries.As you might know by now, a Baltimore woman is suing the Cranberry Mall and Baugher Enterprises produce stand there for negligence. Orange peel left on the mall floor caused her to fall and sustain permanent injuries, claims Bertha Hayden in the lawsuit.

People respond to the disabled differently.It's a fact of life, one that Massachusetts documentarian Laurie S. Block knows all too well: She has one 11-year-old twin who has a spinal disability and one who does not.Their experiences gave Block an idea to fight the prejudices and misconceptions that the disabled face. The result is "Beyond Affliction: The Disability History Project," a four-part National Public Radio series.Starting Tuesday at 6 p.m., WEAA-FM, the NPR station at Morgan State University, will begin airing the series in the Baltimore area.

Last year the movie "Shine" made pianist David Helfgott famous for having resumed a musical career in spite of mental disabilities. But audiences long ago ceased to care about the far more drastic physical disabilities that conductor Jeffrey Tate has overcome.Childhood congenital disorders left his spine twisted into an S, one of his legs dwarfed and essentially useless, and his internal organs permanently compressed, giving him limited lung capacity. A man who would be 6-feet-5-inches tall had he been able to stand up straight is so bent over that he is shorter than average.

President Barack Obama recently did something very few American presidents have done: announced his intention to sign and submit to the Senate for ratification an international human rights treaty. The U.S. has ratified only three of 26 international human rights treaties; some in Congress cling to the idea that the U.S. should never sign any international piece of paper. Even Yemen and Sudan have ratified The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It's time for the U.S. to come on board.

The Supreme Court recently ruled that a child with special needs does not have to first experience failure in a public school setting before parents can choose private special-education options. Those who are celebrating this decision (parents of children with disabilities) and those who are condemning it (public school administrators) are both overstating its likely consequences. The concept of providing a "free and appropriate public education" for children with disabilities has inspired controversy and dire warnings for more than three decades.

One hundred years ago, Judge Sonia Sotomayor would not have reached her 10th birthday. Now she is nominated to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States, with every expectation that she will influence the court for decades to come. Her life with type 1 diabetes is an under-told story, not only for the medical advances that made it possible but also for what it says about our society's approach to disabilities. Since the discovery of insulin in 1921, diabetes is no longer fatal. It is, instead, an incurable but manageable chronic disease.

Carelessness can feed discrimination Even the best intentioned people make slips of the tongue that they regret. We assume that was the case with President Barack Obama, who recently joked on the Jay Leno show that his bowling "was like the Special Olympics." President Obama apologized quickly for his comment, and there is no reason to doubt his sincerity. We shouldn't let this opportunity pass, however, because our children are listening. And we ourselves need to be reminded that casual remarks can hurt people's feelings and, more insidiously, contribute to an environment where some people are treated less equitably than others.

Transportation service available on demand Harford Transit has started a new Demand Response Service for eligible senior citizens, individuals with disabilities and low-income wage earners. The service is available from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays. The fare is $2 (Harford Transit-issued vouchers will be accepted) to take eligible participants wherever they need to go. Reservations must be made by 2 p.m. the working day before travel is planned. The service area includes parts of Aberdeen, Bel Air, Edgewood and Havre de Grace, and areas in between.

Joel David "Jody" Myerberg, who as head of the Maryland Disabilities Forum worked to safeguard the rights of disabled Marylanders, died Monday at Sinai Hospital of complications from a stroke. The Pikesville resident was 62. "For almost 40 years, Joel Myerberg had been an important and powerful advocate for Marylanders with disabilities. His knowledge and insight were sought by governors, mayors, elected officials and individuals working to promote the rights and empowerment of people with disabilities so that they may lead productive, meaningful and independent lives," Gov. Martin O'Malley said in a statement yesterday.

At the beginning of the year, Debbie Cottrill handed out copies of the book My Friend with Autism to children in her son's class at Central Elementary School in Edgewater. She attached letters to parents explaining that Dean has autism and asked parents to go over the book with their children. Cottrill wants Dean's second-grade classmates to understand that he suffers from a neurological disorder that makes him shrink away from them when he is touched. She wants them to know that he wears headphones in the cafeteria because the lunchroom chatter hurts his hypersensitive ears.

Illinois financial planner Mary Anne Ehlert says she started getting more calls after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was chosen as a vice-presidential candidate. Ehlert is an expert on financial planning for children with disabilities. Palin is the mother of a son with Down syndrome. Palin's candidacy raised the profile of children with special needs and got more of their parents thinking about what planning they need to do to secure their child's future, Ehlert says. She says parents called to ask, "Am I supposed to be doing something different?"

Events sought for Bel Air's 2009 community calendar The Bel Air Economic & Community Development Commission is accepting events for the town's 2009 Calendar of Events. Events must be held within the town limits and may include Bel Air-based concerts, fairs, benefit walks, parades and festivals. Deadline for submission is Sept. 5. Information: 410-879-9500 or 410-638-4540. Nominations for awards that honor businesses The Harford County Commission on Disabilities' Employment Committee is taking nominations for the annual awards to recognize Disability Employment Awareness Month in October.

On the day the highly anticipated comedy Tropic Thunder opened nationwide, Matthew Plantz showed up at a Howard County theater, but he wasn't lined up to buy a ticket. The 26-year-old president of an advocacy group for people with disabilities came out to urge moviegoers to boycott the film that he called "demeaning." "We've worked so hard the past couple of decades," said Plantz, who heads the group called People Power. "This movie kind of turns back the clock." Plantz was among a handful of people stationed on the parking lot at United Artists Snowden Square Stadium 14 theaters in Columbia yesterday morning to protest the opening of the DreamWorks film.