The Next Frontier of the ADA: Fitness Facilities

The passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 remains the most compelling and influential law supporting the rights of people with disabilities. Twenty years later, however, plenty of work remains in getting the fitness industry to reach a similar standard of accessibility as office buildings and public facilities.

You can read more about efforts to make fitness centers more accessible to people with disabilities in the January 2010 newsletter of the National Center of Physical Activity and Disability.

“Exercise is for EVERY body”

The mission of the National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD) is to promote substantial health benefits that can be gained from participating in regular physical activity. The slogan of NCPAD is Exercise is for EVERY body, and every person can gain some health benefit from being more physically active. This site provides information and resources that can enable people with disabilities to become as physically active as they choose to be.

You are invited to subscribe to their monthly newsletter. This month features:

Director’s Column: Exercise Tips for Power Mobility Device Users
# From the Information Specialist’s Desk: Infiltrating the Mainstream
# Nutrition Spotlight: Cholesterol Counts: Knowing Your Numbers
# Community Voice: Swim, Bike, Run . . . and the Rest is History
# Program Spotlight: 29th Annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games
# NUDGE: The BalanceGym
# Emerging Evidence: Aerobic Fitness and Obesity in Adolescents and Young Adults with Spina Bifida
# Book Review: No Excuses – Kyle Maynard
# In the News . . . .
# Events, Conferences and Programs
# Employment
# Grants and Funding Opportunities

In addition you will be able to view past newsletter publications. Consider subscribing today!

The External Partners Group-Subscribe to Information-Packed Newsletter

Who is the  External Partners Group?

According to the site description

The External Partners Group is a coalition of government and private sector participants who work together to enhance the mission and activities of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) in promoting child development; preventing birth defects and developmental disorders/disabilities; and enhancing the quality of life and preventing secondary conditions among people who are living with mental or physical disabilities, or a combination thereof.

 

They publish a powerful information packed newsletter every month. This month features include:

• Leaders in Maternal-Child Health Join Forces for National Prematurity Summit
  October 8-9 in Arlington, VA, the March of Dimes, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Nurse-Midwives and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses will join forces to convene a first-of-its-kind national summit on prematurity. The Symposium on Quality Improvement to Prevent Prematurity is intended to 1) Enhance prematurity prevention efforts in the US through increased quality improvement and patient safety programs and to 2) Generate action plans for stakeholder groups outlining education and interventions to reduce prematurity. For more information, visit www.marchofdimes.com/conferences.
• New Resources on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

  To recognize September 9 as International Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Day, CDC developed a feature about FASDs, highlighting a video that shares the story of a family living with the effects of fetal alcohol exposure. Visit the feature, and share the message about having a healthy, alcohol-free pregnancy with colleagues and friends: www.cdc.gov/Features/FASD.

• Plus More! Sign up today to get your free copy. Please let us know that you did.

Important Cancer Survivor Study for Persons with Disabilities

Are you a cancer survivor who had limitation in activities of daily living prior to your cancer?

 

The University of Texas at Austin – School of Nursing invites you to participate in a study to help them understand how cancer survivors who had a functional limitation or disability prior to being diagnosed with cancer take care of their health. This study is funded by the National Cancer Institute. You can earn up to $25 by completing a questionnaire packet about your health status, health-promoting behaviors, and quality of life. This information will help health care providers work more effectively with survivors with pre-existing disabling conditions. Reseachres are particularly interested in reaching members of minority ethnic and/or racial groups, who may be less likely to participate in such studies. You must have completed active treatment to participate.

If you are over the age of 21 and interested in participating in this study, please contact:

Heather Becker, Ph.D., Research Scientist
The University of Texas at Austin
School of Nursing
1700 Red River
Austin, TX 78701-1499
512-471-7311 or 800-687-8010
512-471-4910 (fax)
heatherbecker@mail.utexas.edu or maxhealth@mail.nur.utexas.edu

Please pass this information along to others who may be eligible to participate!

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY and DISABILITY June Newsletter

The June Newsletter of the National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD) is now available.

Help The Arc of NJ Fight Discrimination Against People with Intellectual Disabilities!

Tell-a-Friend Email Campaign – Please forward to everyone you know and ask them to spread the word!Help The Arc of New Jersey Fight Discrimination and Denigration of People with Intellectual Disabilities! Boycott “Tropic Thunder” movie due for release August 13!

Background Tropic Thunder is an action/adventure/comedy scheduled for nationwide release on August 13 and is touted to be one of the blockbusters of the summer. DreamWorks is the film’s producer and Paramount is its distributor. The film features Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black as self-absorbed actors filming a big-budget war movie on location. Through a series of freak occurrences, they are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, a fading action star who earlier failed in his bid for an Oscar as “Simple Jack,” a man with an intellectual disability. “Simple Jack” is featured as a film-within-a-film, with Stiller sporting a classic institutional bowl haircut and bad teeth. The film within-a-film’s slogan is “What he doesn’t have in his head, he makes up for in his heart.” A satirical plot synopsis quotes a critic as saying that Speedman’s Jack was “one of the most retarded performances in cinema history.” The language surrounding the Simple Jack film and character consistently uses the words “retard”, “imbecile”, idiot” and “moron”. Use of “retard” occurs more than 60 times. The promo for the Simple Jack movie includes the tagline “Once upon a time….there was a retard.” One of the scenes in Tropical Thunder has Robert Downey Jr.’s character giving advice to Ben Stiller’s character. He advises that when playing the role of someone “retarded”, that you “never go full retard.” In perhaps one of the most offensive scene in the film, Matthew McConaughey, who plays a Hollywood agent, speaks to the film’s main character who wants to adopt a child. “Well, at least you still have a choice. I’m stuck with mine,” states McConaughey while pointing to a photograph of his teenage son who appears to have an intellectual disability. The list goes on and on.

Status A small number of disability advocates was able to screen the film on Friday, August 8. Their assessment of the film was that it was far worse than anything they could have anticipated. According to David Tolleson, the Executive Director of the National Down Syndrome Congress who attended the screening, “it provides real ammunition for cruelty” especially for the film’s target audience of adolescent males. “Not only is the Simple Jack character highly central to the film’s plot, it is portrayed in the most demeaning way,” according to Tolleson. There has been mounting outrage from the disability community as the film’s content is gradually becoming known. For excellent coverage of the issue, see http://www.patriciaebauer.com/2008/08/01/once-upon-a-time/ and related posts. Hundreds of comments have been posted on the blog expressing outrage about the movie. Also, on The Arc of the US’ website, www.thearc.org, you can see several articles, memos and responses.Representatives of a number of national disability organizations, including The Arc’s Executive Director Peter V. Berns, met with DreamWorks and Paramount studio executives in Los Angeles, California on Wednesday, August 6. The purpose of the meeting was to express concerns, request a viewing of the film, and discuss possible solutions. They presented to Dreamworks a number of ideas for things they could do to try to remedy the problem they created. Their demands spanned a range from apology, to fixing the film before release or DVD release, to producing a national educational campaign, to leading an initiative with other studios to address the problem more broadly. In their Friday call with Ms. Snider, Dreamworks shared more specifics about what they planned to do –emphasizing that they want to bring their leadership and resources to become part of the solution, rather than simply being the source of problems. They also promised to put in writing their proposal for addressing the harm this movie has done and will continue to do. This written proposal was due Monday.

Take ActionStart by forwarding this email to everyone you know – friends, co-workers, neighbors, vendors, community groups you belong to, government officials – anyone who will take the message to heart and pass it on. This is a national issue so pass it on to anyone, no matter where they are. Spread the word that the language and parodies in this movie relating to people with intellectual disabilities are unacceptable as they foster a culture of hate and intolerance.Boycott the movie and talk to everyone you know about boycotting the movie as well. Many people don’t know that there is any reference to disabilities in the movie. We need to spread the word.Write to Paramont Pictures, Viacom, and Dreamworks expressing your outrage and relating how many people you’ve talked to about the film. They need to hear the message that huge numbers of people are boycotting the film and that number will only continue to grow.

DreamWorks SKG is the production company and the executive team includes: Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, Stacey Snider, Jeff Small and Adam Goodman and their contact information is 1000 Flower Street, Glendale, CA 91201-3007 1.818.733.7000.Ben Stiller’s own production company is Red Hour Films which also participated in the production of Tropical Thunder. That contact information is 629 North La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90036 323.602.5000.Ben Stiller’s talent agency is United Talent Agency, 9560 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 500, Beverly Hills, CA 90212 310.273.6700Ben Stiller’s publicist is Kelly Bush, ID Public Relations, 8409 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069 323.822.4800

Emails can be sent to Viacom, Paramount Pictures parent company at http://www.viacom.com/contact/Pages/default.aspx

What’s Happening at CDC?

Want to know what’s going on around the country involving Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD)?  Sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, this website  is a comprehensive resource that provides a wide range of FASD information.  Topics include information about state based programs, surveillance data, research articles, guidelines for referral and diagnosis, interventions, curriculum, brochures and fact sheets.