The New York LawHelp Consortium is reaching out to our communities and informing them about a resource that would be very useful in their communities. LawHelp.org/NY is a free web site that helps low-income New Yorkers access free legal services and other legal resources and information. Some things you can do include informing your staff about the web site's resources, posting the enclosed flyers, and placing a link to LawHelp on your web site.
What is LawHelp?
LawHelp (http://www.LawHelp.org/NY) is an online, legal-information clearinghouse that provides low-income people throughout the State of New York with referrals to free legal services, information about their legal rights, links to social services and government agencies, and information about the court system. The website matches a potential client with appropriate referrals and materials, based on place of residence and type of legal problem, and has the most comprehensive and up-to-date database of New York legal services providers available. LawHelp is a collaborative project of: the New York State Bar Association, the City Bar Fund, Legal Services for New York City, Pro Bono Net, The Legal Aid Society and Volunteers of Legal Service, the Greater Upstate Law Project, and the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York.
Who should use LawHelp?
Legal services and social services organizations should use LawHelp/NY to provide referrals to clients who they are unable to assist, and to distribute legal education materials and other information to those seeking assistance. Individuals who have access to a computer with an Internet connection can use LawHelp/NY independently.
What legal topic areas does LawHelp cover?
LawHelp/NY provides referrals and information the following areas: consumer, disability, education, family & juvenile, health, housing, immigration & naturalization, individual rights, life planning, public benefits, taxes and workers' rights. LawHelp also has a September 11th page containing information about legal rights, benefits and other resources relating to the tragedy. During the next year we will also be posting legal education materials in a number of new areas.
How you can help
The LawHelp staff would be happy to train your organization on the web site, provide an ad or short article for your newsletter, send additional flyers, help you link to the LawHelp site, or work with you in other ways to help poor people get the legal help they need.
Contact info:
800-462-2922 ext. 309
e-mail: anunez@lasnny.org
For more information and resources on autism, go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Friday, April 15, 2005
Report to Congress on Autism
HHS Report to Congress on Autism Activities may be found on the IACC webpage at:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/autismiacc/autismreport2005.pdf
For more information and resources on autism, go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/autismiacc/autismreport2005.pdf
For more information and resources on autism, go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Study: Psychological reasoning begins earlier than had been thought
Psychological reasoning begins earlier than had been thought, study shows
http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php
Public release date: 14-Apr-2005
Contact: Jim Barlow, Life Sciences Editor <mailto:jebarlow@uiuc.edu> jebarlow@uiuc.edu 217-333-5802
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign <http://www.uiuc.edu/>
CHAMPAIGN, IL. -- According to conventional wisdom, babies don't begin to develop sophisticated psychological reasoning about people until they are about 4 years old. A study of 15-month-olds at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign proves otherwise.
The findings, published in the April 8 issue of the journal Science, potentially could lead to an early screening tool for autism, a developmental disability that is marked by a failure on false-belief and related tasks, the researchers say.
In a non-verbal experiment, each participating baby, 56 in all, sat on aparent's lap and faced an actor (a university student). On the table between the baby and the actor was a toy watermelon slice and two boxes whose openings faced each other; one box was green, the other yellow.
To start, the actor picked up the watermelon slice, played with it, and then hid it in the green box. On subsequent trials, the actor always reached into the green box, as though to grasp the watermelon slice she had hidden there. Then, seemingly unbeknownst to the actor but in sight of the infant, the watermelon slice moved to the yellow box.
This change created a false belief for the actor as to the location of the coveted watermelon slice, said principal investigator Renee Baillargeon(pronounced BY-uhr-zhan), a professor of psychology at Illinois.
The infants expected the actor to search for the watermelon toy in the green box (where she falsely believed it to be), and not in the yellow box (where it actually was and where the infants knew it to be). The infants looked reliably longer when the actor searched the yellow box, as though surprised by this unexpected event.
If the actor was present when the watermelon slice moved from the green to the yellow box, the infants now expected the actor to search the yellow box, and they were surprised if she went to the green box instead. The infants attributed to the actor a true belief that the toy was hidden in the yellow box, and they expected her to act accordingly.
In another condition, the actor was again present when the toy moved from the green to the yellow box -- but after she left, the toy returned to the green box. In this condition, the infants attributed to the actor a false belief that the toy was hidden in the yellow box; they expected her to go to that box, and they were surprised when she went to the green box instead.
"Infants understood that the actor could have a true or a false belief toy's location, and they always expected her to act in a manner consistent with her belief," Baillargeon said.
Whenever the actor looked for the toy where it was instead of where she falsely believed it to be, the babies looked longer.
"Looking-time is the gauge," Baillargeon said. "This is the violation-of-expectation method: Babies look longer at events they view as unexpected. It is a 'whoa' look -- a state of heightened attention. It's like it is in everyday life. You expect something and then when it's not what it should be, you tend to look longer, as when we watch a magic show. It's the wow of the unexpected."
The research, which was part of the doctoral research of lead author Kristine H. Onishi, now on the psychology faculty at McGill University in Quebec, Canada, has since been duplicated many times using various scenarios in Baillargeon's lab.
"These findings will provide parents and educators with a better understanding of how children think," Onishi said in a McGill news release."Kids are actively trying to make sense of the things they see others do. To some degree, children think about what others can see, what others think, and what others believe."
The findings also call into question the long-held view that an enormous conceptual change takes place in early childhood in the understanding of others, Baillargeon said. "If 15-month-olds can reason about what others believe, it means that psychological reasoning is much more sophisticated than we thought, and begins at a much earlier age than we had thought."
Many years of earlier work, reviewed by Onishi and Baillargeon, have suggested that "between 3 and 4 years of age, children go from a non-representational to a representational theory of mind: They begin tounderstand that beliefs are only representations of reality, which can betrue or false," Baillargeon said.
Because their non-verbal approach produced findings that challenge previousassumptions, Baillargeon said, it may be that the verbal tasks used inearlier work were overly complex. It could be that having to predict theactor's actions and also interpret and produce sentences overwhelmed the3-year-old subjects, she said.
###The research was funded by a predoctoral training grant to Onishi from theNational Institute of Mental Health and by a grant to Baillargeon from theNational Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
For more information and resources on autism, go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php
Public release date: 14-Apr-2005
Contact: Jim Barlow, Life Sciences Editor <mailto:jebarlow@uiuc.edu> jebarlow@uiuc.edu 217-333-5802
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign <http://www.uiuc.edu/>
CHAMPAIGN, IL. -- According to conventional wisdom, babies don't begin to develop sophisticated psychological reasoning about people until they are about 4 years old. A study of 15-month-olds at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign proves otherwise.
The findings, published in the April 8 issue of the journal Science, potentially could lead to an early screening tool for autism, a developmental disability that is marked by a failure on false-belief and related tasks, the researchers say.
In a non-verbal experiment, each participating baby, 56 in all, sat on aparent's lap and faced an actor (a university student). On the table between the baby and the actor was a toy watermelon slice and two boxes whose openings faced each other; one box was green, the other yellow.
To start, the actor picked up the watermelon slice, played with it, and then hid it in the green box. On subsequent trials, the actor always reached into the green box, as though to grasp the watermelon slice she had hidden there. Then, seemingly unbeknownst to the actor but in sight of the infant, the watermelon slice moved to the yellow box.
This change created a false belief for the actor as to the location of the coveted watermelon slice, said principal investigator Renee Baillargeon(pronounced BY-uhr-zhan), a professor of psychology at Illinois.
The infants expected the actor to search for the watermelon toy in the green box (where she falsely believed it to be), and not in the yellow box (where it actually was and where the infants knew it to be). The infants looked reliably longer when the actor searched the yellow box, as though surprised by this unexpected event.
If the actor was present when the watermelon slice moved from the green to the yellow box, the infants now expected the actor to search the yellow box, and they were surprised if she went to the green box instead. The infants attributed to the actor a true belief that the toy was hidden in the yellow box, and they expected her to act accordingly.
In another condition, the actor was again present when the toy moved from the green to the yellow box -- but after she left, the toy returned to the green box. In this condition, the infants attributed to the actor a false belief that the toy was hidden in the yellow box; they expected her to go to that box, and they were surprised when she went to the green box instead.
"Infants understood that the actor could have a true or a false belief toy's location, and they always expected her to act in a manner consistent with her belief," Baillargeon said.
Whenever the actor looked for the toy where it was instead of where she falsely believed it to be, the babies looked longer.
"Looking-time is the gauge," Baillargeon said. "This is the violation-of-expectation method: Babies look longer at events they view as unexpected. It is a 'whoa' look -- a state of heightened attention. It's like it is in everyday life. You expect something and then when it's not what it should be, you tend to look longer, as when we watch a magic show. It's the wow of the unexpected."
The research, which was part of the doctoral research of lead author Kristine H. Onishi, now on the psychology faculty at McGill University in Quebec, Canada, has since been duplicated many times using various scenarios in Baillargeon's lab.
"These findings will provide parents and educators with a better understanding of how children think," Onishi said in a McGill news release."Kids are actively trying to make sense of the things they see others do. To some degree, children think about what others can see, what others think, and what others believe."
The findings also call into question the long-held view that an enormous conceptual change takes place in early childhood in the understanding of others, Baillargeon said. "If 15-month-olds can reason about what others believe, it means that psychological reasoning is much more sophisticated than we thought, and begins at a much earlier age than we had thought."
Many years of earlier work, reviewed by Onishi and Baillargeon, have suggested that "between 3 and 4 years of age, children go from a non-representational to a representational theory of mind: They begin tounderstand that beliefs are only representations of reality, which can betrue or false," Baillargeon said.
Because their non-verbal approach produced findings that challenge previousassumptions, Baillargeon said, it may be that the verbal tasks used inearlier work were overly complex. It could be that having to predict theactor's actions and also interpret and produce sentences overwhelmed the3-year-old subjects, she said.
###The research was funded by a predoctoral training grant to Onishi from theNational Institute of Mental Health and by a grant to Baillargeon from theNational Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
For more information and resources on autism, go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Help Your Child Learn to Play Piano - Free!
PIANO IS EASY FOR KIDS
Put the numbered stickers on your piano.
Kids read music with a FREE book.
FREE VHS video, too!
A great way to get started.
Come see all the fun songs you can play at:
http://www.pianoiseasy.com/?src=bkc8
For more information and resources on autism, go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Put the numbered stickers on your piano.
Kids read music with a FREE book.
FREE VHS video, too!
A great way to get started.
Come see all the fun songs you can play at:
http://www.pianoiseasy.com/?src=bkc8
For more information and resources on autism, go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Playing Politics At Kids' Expense
Playing politics at kids' expense
Bill would insulate pharmaceutical firms from liability
By Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/syndicated/stories/PE_OpEd_Opinion_D_op_11_autism.f42d.html
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has buried a provision in the "Protecting America in the War on Terror Act" to insulate the pharmaceutical industry from liability for venal actions that may have poisoned an entire generation of Americans.
Mounting evidence suggests that Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in children's vaccines, may be responsible for the exponential growth of autism, attention deficit disorder, speech delays and other childhood neurological disorders now epidemic in the United States.
Prior to 1989, American infants generally received three vaccinations. In the early 1990s, public-health officials dramatically increased the number of Thimerosal-containing vaccinations without considering the cumulative impact of the mercury load on developing brains.
Warning Issued
In a 1991 memo, Dr. Maurice Hilleman, one of the fathers of Merck's vaccination programs, warned the president of the company's vaccination division that 6-month-old children administered the shots on schedule would suffer mercury exposures 87 times the government safety standard (400 times the current U.S. government's safe level). He recommended that Thimerosal be discontinued, "especially when used on infants and children."
Merck ignored Hilleman's warning and, for eight years, government officials added seven additional shots for children containing Thimerosal.
Mercury is a known brain poison, and autism rates began rising dramatically in children who were administered the new vaccine regimens. A decade ago the American Academy of Pediatrics estimated the autism rate among American children to be 1 in 2,500. Today, the CDC places the autism rate at 1 in 166, or one in 80 boys. Additionally, one in every six children is now diagnosed with a related neurological disorder.
In 1998 the CDC's lead Thimerosal researcher, Dr. Thomas Verstraeten, complained to his colleagues in a secret memo that, despite rerunning and rethinking the research, the links between Thimerosal and autism "just won't go away."
Secret Meeting
In 2000, CDC, FDA and pharmaceutical companies called a secret meeting to review Verstraeten's findings. According to transcripts, participants were alarmed about the undeniable link between the mercury preservative and autism. Dr. Bill Weil told the group, "You can play with (the results) all you want. They are statistically significant."
Dr. Richard Johnston acknowledged he feared his grandchild getting vaccinated. But the group was most concerned with keeping the findings secret.
Numerous animal, DNA, epidemiological and other studies point to Thimerosal as the culprit in America's epidemic of neurological disorders.
Autistic children have been shown to have higher mercury loads than non-autistics, and there have been reports of significant improvements in some brain-injured children by removing mercury from their bodies.
Most of the symptoms of autism are similar to the symptoms of mercury poisoning. Recently, scientists have been able to induce autism in certain mice by exposing them to Thimerosal.
In a recent study, former FDA scientist Dr. Jill James uncovered a scientific link that helps explain why Thimerosal injures some children and not others. That study found that many autistic children are genetically deficient in their capacity to produce glutathione, an antioxidant generated in the brain that helps remove mercury from the body, a harmless difference until the child is exposed to large quantities of mercury.
Porter Bridges' experience is typical. In 1993, this healthy 4-month-old slipped into a coma hours after receiving his vaccines.
Today, 11-year-old Porter is autistic, hyperactive and severely brain damaged. He requires minute-to-minute supervision, is frequently afflicted with violent seizures and is not yet toilet-trained.
After a seven-year legal fight, the U.S. government acknowledged that Porter was damaged by his vaccines. There are now 520,000 autistics in the United States with 40,000 new cases each year.
High Cost of Care
The cost of caring for autistic children is conservatively $40,000. Families with children with autism and other neurological diseases have filed more than 4,200 claims in the special federal "Vaccine Court." Some plaintiffs have also filed in trial courts.
Some Drug Makers Act
Thimerosal defendants include Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Aventis, Weyeth and Eli Lilly. Frist's newly proposed "anti-terror" legislation would create insurmountable burdens of proof for plaintiffs in these cases and forbid states from banning Thimerosal.
Drug makers wary of liability have reduced Thimerosal in children's vaccines in recent years, with the exception of Chiron and Aventis' pediatric flu vaccine. Mercury-laced vaccine stocks were given to children until the end of 2003.
Thimerosal's inventor, Eli Lilly, donated $226,000 to Frist's national Republican Senate Campaign Committee in 2002 and bought 5,000 copies of Frist's book on bioterrorism. Congress will vote on Frist's bill in the near future.
Instead of demanding the immediate removal of Thimerosal from all vaccines, and making the drug industry help defray the public and private costs of caring for injured children, Frist's bill would give the industry a free ride at public expense.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper and a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Bill would insulate pharmaceutical firms from liability
By Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/syndicated/stories/PE_OpEd_Opinion_D_op_11_autism.f42d.html
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has buried a provision in the "Protecting America in the War on Terror Act" to insulate the pharmaceutical industry from liability for venal actions that may have poisoned an entire generation of Americans.
Mounting evidence suggests that Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in children's vaccines, may be responsible for the exponential growth of autism, attention deficit disorder, speech delays and other childhood neurological disorders now epidemic in the United States.
Prior to 1989, American infants generally received three vaccinations. In the early 1990s, public-health officials dramatically increased the number of Thimerosal-containing vaccinations without considering the cumulative impact of the mercury load on developing brains.
Warning Issued
In a 1991 memo, Dr. Maurice Hilleman, one of the fathers of Merck's vaccination programs, warned the president of the company's vaccination division that 6-month-old children administered the shots on schedule would suffer mercury exposures 87 times the government safety standard (400 times the current U.S. government's safe level). He recommended that Thimerosal be discontinued, "especially when used on infants and children."
Merck ignored Hilleman's warning and, for eight years, government officials added seven additional shots for children containing Thimerosal.
Mercury is a known brain poison, and autism rates began rising dramatically in children who were administered the new vaccine regimens. A decade ago the American Academy of Pediatrics estimated the autism rate among American children to be 1 in 2,500. Today, the CDC places the autism rate at 1 in 166, or one in 80 boys. Additionally, one in every six children is now diagnosed with a related neurological disorder.
In 1998 the CDC's lead Thimerosal researcher, Dr. Thomas Verstraeten, complained to his colleagues in a secret memo that, despite rerunning and rethinking the research, the links between Thimerosal and autism "just won't go away."
Secret Meeting
In 2000, CDC, FDA and pharmaceutical companies called a secret meeting to review Verstraeten's findings. According to transcripts, participants were alarmed about the undeniable link between the mercury preservative and autism. Dr. Bill Weil told the group, "You can play with (the results) all you want. They are statistically significant."
Dr. Richard Johnston acknowledged he feared his grandchild getting vaccinated. But the group was most concerned with keeping the findings secret.
Numerous animal, DNA, epidemiological and other studies point to Thimerosal as the culprit in America's epidemic of neurological disorders.
Autistic children have been shown to have higher mercury loads than non-autistics, and there have been reports of significant improvements in some brain-injured children by removing mercury from their bodies.
Most of the symptoms of autism are similar to the symptoms of mercury poisoning. Recently, scientists have been able to induce autism in certain mice by exposing them to Thimerosal.
In a recent study, former FDA scientist Dr. Jill James uncovered a scientific link that helps explain why Thimerosal injures some children and not others. That study found that many autistic children are genetically deficient in their capacity to produce glutathione, an antioxidant generated in the brain that helps remove mercury from the body, a harmless difference until the child is exposed to large quantities of mercury.
Porter Bridges' experience is typical. In 1993, this healthy 4-month-old slipped into a coma hours after receiving his vaccines.
Today, 11-year-old Porter is autistic, hyperactive and severely brain damaged. He requires minute-to-minute supervision, is frequently afflicted with violent seizures and is not yet toilet-trained.
After a seven-year legal fight, the U.S. government acknowledged that Porter was damaged by his vaccines. There are now 520,000 autistics in the United States with 40,000 new cases each year.
High Cost of Care
The cost of caring for autistic children is conservatively $40,000. Families with children with autism and other neurological diseases have filed more than 4,200 claims in the special federal "Vaccine Court." Some plaintiffs have also filed in trial courts.
Some Drug Makers Act
Thimerosal defendants include Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Aventis, Weyeth and Eli Lilly. Frist's newly proposed "anti-terror" legislation would create insurmountable burdens of proof for plaintiffs in these cases and forbid states from banning Thimerosal.
Drug makers wary of liability have reduced Thimerosal in children's vaccines in recent years, with the exception of Chiron and Aventis' pediatric flu vaccine. Mercury-laced vaccine stocks were given to children until the end of 2003.
Thimerosal's inventor, Eli Lilly, donated $226,000 to Frist's national Republican Senate Campaign Committee in 2002 and bought 5,000 copies of Frist's book on bioterrorism. Congress will vote on Frist's bill in the near future.
Instead of demanding the immediate removal of Thimerosal from all vaccines, and making the drug industry help defray the public and private costs of caring for injured children, Frist's bill would give the industry a free ride at public expense.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper and a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Friday, April 01, 2005
ADAPT Community Statement re: Terry Schiavo
Below is a Community Statement from ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation) on the Terry Schiavo matter.
March 31, 2005
We mourn the death of Terri Schiavo.
For many of us in the disability community this event underscores the devaluing of the lives of people with disabilities, especially people with significant disabilities.
With radical reforms in store for Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security we cannot help but remember that the cheapest way to serve people with disabilities is to kill us.
The double standards and inconsistent positions of both the right and the left leave many of us feeling vulnerable at best.
Disabled should not mean disposable.
Nat Hentoff recently wrote in the Village Voice:
".a 41-year old woman, who has committed no crime, will die of dehydration and starvation in the longest public execution in American history."
That this event was allowed to take place is deeply disturbing to us.
That some would sweep it away as nobody's business is equally disturbing.
Many immoral decisions have been made by the Courts. The Dred Scott decision and Buck vs. Bell are just two historic Supreme Court examples of judicial indifference to the rights of minorities.
Terri's death will hopefully bring to light the discrimination all people with disabilities experience and the need for society to address solutions so this never happens again.
Disabled people and Proud of it!
The ADAPT Community
http://www.adapt.org/
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
March 31, 2005
We mourn the death of Terri Schiavo.
For many of us in the disability community this event underscores the devaluing of the lives of people with disabilities, especially people with significant disabilities.
With radical reforms in store for Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security we cannot help but remember that the cheapest way to serve people with disabilities is to kill us.
The double standards and inconsistent positions of both the right and the left leave many of us feeling vulnerable at best.
Disabled should not mean disposable.
Nat Hentoff recently wrote in the Village Voice:
".a 41-year old woman, who has committed no crime, will die of dehydration and starvation in the longest public execution in American history."
That this event was allowed to take place is deeply disturbing to us.
That some would sweep it away as nobody's business is equally disturbing.
Many immoral decisions have been made by the Courts. The Dred Scott decision and Buck vs. Bell are just two historic Supreme Court examples of judicial indifference to the rights of minorities.
Terri's death will hopefully bring to light the discrimination all people with disabilities experience and the need for society to address solutions so this never happens again.
Disabled people and Proud of it!
The ADAPT Community
http://www.adapt.org/
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
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