Thirty years ago, on Nov. 10, 1981, President Ronald Reagan told a story about an Iowa girl story at a press conference. “We just recently received word of a little girl who has spent most of her life in a hospital. The doctors are of the opinion that if she could be sent home and ...

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Do you prefer to read the .pdf on your computer or e-reader?  Here's the .pdf copy of the November 2011 issue. Enjoy!

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Fresh off of its showing at the Twin Cities Film Festival, Signing On: Stories of Deaf Breast Cancer Survivors, Their Families and the Deaf Community will be shown on Twin Cities Public Television this month. Director Barbara Allen’s documentary shares the store of a group of deaf breast cancer survivors who are known as the ...

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Here's the .pdf of the October 2011 Issue.  Enjoy!

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While there are close to 50 million Americans living with disabilities, Lives Worth Living is the first television history of their decades-long struggle forequal rights. Produced and directed by Eric Neudel, Lives Worth Living is a window into a world inhabited by people with an unwavering determination to live their lives like everyone else, and ...

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Here's the .pdf version of the September 2011 Issue.  Enjoy!

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During the government shutdown in July, Ramsey County District Court Judge Kathleen Gearin ruled that certain government functions must be provided and paid for even though the Minnesota Legislature and the governor had not agreed on an appropriation act. Years earlier, in a different context, U.S. District Judge Earl Larson issued a similar order in ...

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Here's the entire August 2011 Issue in .pdf format.  Enjoy!

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Although it serves a small proportion of the population, Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare of St. Paul has an interesting history. It is unique in that its mission is to serve patients who have physical disabilities. Gillette is the first of its kind for treatment of patients with disabilities. What is now is that Gillette Children’s ...

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A medical device which has made life easier for countless people with disabilities and illness has ties to Minnesota. The Foley catheter was invented by St. Cloud native Frederic Foley. A Foley catheter is a flexible tube that is passed through the urethra and into the bladder. The tube has two separated lumens. One lumen is ...

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Here's the entire June 2011 Issue in .pdf format.  Enjoy!

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 In 1995 Gov. Arne Carlson’s administration proposed to scale back the Tax Equity & Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA) program and to decimate personal care attendant (PCA) services. Dozens of persons with disabilities and their friends and family members, including the newly formed Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, spoke out at the capitol and ...

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Here's the .pdf version of our May Issue! Enjoy!

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 Today, agencies provide most of the community-based services for persons with disabilities, generally supported by public funds. In the decades after the School for the Feebleminded opened at Faribault, however, three women, on their own and without public support, established the first group homes and day programs for persons with developmental disabilities. In 1897, Laura Baker, ...

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Here's the .pdf of the April 2011 issue.  Enjoy!

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Advocacy groups, supportive members of the Minnesota Legislature, and a University of Minnesota professor collaborated to achieve approval by the 1957 legislature of a law, which mandated that schools provide “special instruction and services for handicapped children” considered “educable” according to standards of the state Department of Education. They also obtained approval of a law ...

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Here’s the .pdf of our March 2011 issue!  Enjoy!

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This is an interview with my friend, J.J. He prefers to remain anonymous because “someone might find me and beat me up for saying things.” J.J. was sent to live at Faribault State Hospital in 1934, when he was five years old. He will celebrate his 82nd birthday in a couple of months. Many children were ...

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Here's the .pdf of our February 2011 issue!  Enjoy!

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In 1975, not a nickel of state money was spent on mental health services in the community. In 1976, the state decided to close Hastings State Hospital—with no transfer of funds to community services. At the same time, Pat Solo-monson, a mother of five, struggled to find community care and treatment for her young adult ...

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Here’s the January 2011 issue, all-in-one file! (.pdf file)

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Southwest Minnesota State was touted as a college intended to accommodate students with disabilities when it opened in Marshall in 1967. Howard Bellows, the first president of the college, came from Emporia State College in Kansas, one of the few state colleges designed to be accessible to students with physical disabilities. He framed the specialized ...

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Here’s the December 2010 issue, all-in-one file! (.pdf file)

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The Minnesota Society for Crippled Children and Adults persuaded the 1963 Minnesota Legislature to pass, unanimously, a requirement that new buildings paid for by the state be accessible to persons with disabilities. This new law directed the state fire marshal to write rules for stated-funded construction that were consistent with the 1961 American Standard Association ...

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Here’s the November 2010 issue, all-in-one file!  (.pdf file)

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