Category Archives: Disability

Victoria records 279 new Covid cases and 16 deaths as NSW reports five cases and one death

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Daniel Andrews expresses ‘cautious optimism’ but declines to say whether restrictions may be eased after six-week lockdown

• Follow the Sunday coronavirus liveblog
• Shorten lashes out at profit-driven aged care and Morrison government over Covid failings

Victoria recorded another 16 coronavirus deaths on Sunday as well as 279 new cases, as the premier Daniel Andrews expressed “cautious optimism” that the state’s harsh stage four restrictions were finally bringing the crisis under control.

“These numbers are heading in the right direction,” Andrews said. “They speak to a strategy that is working. At the same time, no one day necessarily guarantees the outcome – that is a long hard slog.”

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Disability care agency banned after degrading death of Adelaide woman Ann Marie Smith

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NDIS quality commission says Integrity Care SA is being banned for a number of contraventions following an investigation into the ‘appalling circumstances’ of Smith’s death

The disability care provider for an Adelaide woman with cerebral palsy who died in “disgusting and degrading” conditions earlier this year has been banned from operating under the NDIS.

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission on Wednesday announced it was revoking the registration of the company responsible for caring for 54-year-old woman Anne Marie Smith before her death in what police described as deeply shocking conditions in April.

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I’m a shielder who’s been out for the first time. How do I stay safe? | Pippa Kent

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Shielding rules were relaxed in England on 1 August, but I’m not rushing to the shops or beach any time soon

I am one of those people who were told that from 1 August we no longer needed to shield to protect ourselves from the coronavirus.

While you might assume that, having been trapped inside our homes for the past 18 weeks, we would embrace our newfound freedom with enthusiasm, the reality remains far from it.

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Baldness and rashes? Experts split over unusual Covid-19 risk factors and symptoms

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Academics analyse whether hair and hearing loss may also be linked to coronavirus

From hearing loss and rashes, to being tall and bald, as the Covid-19 pandemic develops, a host of new symptoms and risk factors are being linked to the virus. We take a look at the evidence.

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‘Coronavirus ruined everything’: the long wait for new limbs in Kurdistan

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Decades of war have resulted in a high demand for prosthetics – and patients are anxious to visit clinics as they finally reopen

Concentration is etched on Hussein’s face as he walks along a scuffed yellow line painted on the floor of the clinic’s rehabilitation room. He’s getting a feel for his new prosthetic.

Hussein lost his left leg below the knee in 1987 when he stepped on a landmine while fishing at Lake Dukan, around 100km (62 miles) east of Erbil in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Mines and other unexploded remnants of successive wars litter the landscape, causing new injuries every year. More than half the clinic’s 15,100 patients are amputees. Roughly 4,600 of them lost limbs as a result of conflict – 2,500 of these to landmines.

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Refugee on hunger strike over age dispute with Home Office

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Bristol man sees official record of his age as five years older than he says as theft of his identity

A young man who was given permission to stay in the UK after fleeing Gaza has been on hunger strike for more than 90 days in protest at what he sees as the “theft” of his true identity on his official records.

The man, who has learning disabilities and post-traumatic stress disorder, says he was wrongly assessed as being five years older than he is when he arrived in the UK. He regards his date of birth as a crucial part of his identity and a vital link to his late parents.

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Andrew Bolt’s column mocking Greta Thunberg breached standards, press watchdog finds

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News Corp columnist accuses Australian Press Council of sabotaging debate and doubles down by repeating slurs about Thunberg’s autism

Andrew Bolt’s mocking column about Greta Thunberg, which referred to the young climate campaigner as “deeply disturbed” and “freakishly influential”, breached standards and was likely to cause substantial distress, offence and prejudice, the press watchdog has found.

The Australian Press Council ruled that the language in Bolt’s August 2019 article breached standards because it attempted to “diminish the credibility of Ms Thunberg’s opinions on the basis of her disabilities and by pillorying her supporters on the basis of her disabilities”.

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‘Ginormous challenge’: boy with cerebral palsy completes marathon

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Tobias Weller raises £60,000 for charity by walking up and down Sheffield road for 70 days

There were cheers from physically distanced crowds as nine-year-old Tobias Weller, a boy with autism and cerebral palsy, completed his remarkable challenge to walk a marathon to raise money for charity.

Nicknamed Captain Tobias, he has been walking up and down the Sheffield road where he lives for 70 days. He initially hoped to raise £500. A flood of support led to him raising the target to £30,000. On Sunday evening the total stood at more than £60,000.

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MPs bring bill to ban late abortions for cleft lip, cleft palate and club foot

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Cross-party group proposes ending UK abortions after 24 weeks for minor disabilities

Abortion laws in Britain could be changed under cross-party proposals to ban late terminations on the grounds of minor physical abnormalities.

The abortion (cleft lip, cleft palate and club foot) bill, led by the Conservative MP Fiona Bruce and supported by 13 MPs, will be presented in parliament on 3 June.

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Court hearings via video ‘risk unfairness for disabled people’

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UK equalities watchdog warns move amid virus to focus on online sessions could hamper rapport and access to justice

Remote video trials could disadvantage people with learning disabilities, the equalities watchdog has warned, as courts switch to online hearings during the coronavirus crisis.

An interim report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has highlighed concerns about the impact of conducting cases without defendants being present in court.

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Signing on: The deaf workers weaning a capital city off plastic bags

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Ethiopian paper bag firm employs 18 deaf workers who use sign language to persuade clients to choose greener alternative

What do you say to a business owner who has heard it all before? Answer: Don’t speak, use sign language.

At least that’s the novel approach taken by Teki Paper bags, an Ethiopian enterprise developed by deaf women.

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Disability charity boss jailed after stealing from pension fund

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Patrick McLarry sentenced to five years for defrauding scheme of more than £250,000

The former head of a charity has been jailed for five years after he admitted defrauding a pension scheme for workers with disabilities and using the money to buy houses in England and France.

Patrick McLarry took more than £250,000 from the pension scheme of Yateley Industries for the Disabled and used it to buy homes for himself and his wife and pay off a debt for a pub lease.

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Disabled man starved to death after DWP stopped his benefits

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MPs call for inquiry into case of Errol Graham, 57, who weighed 28.5kg when he was found dead

MPs and campaigners have called for an independent inquiry after it emerged a disabled man with a long history of mental illness starved to death just months after welfare officials stopped his out-of-work and housing benefits.

Errol Graham, a 57-year-old grandfather, and in his younger days a keen amateur footballer, weighed just four and a half stone (28.5kg) when his emaciated body was discovered by bailiffs who had broken down his front door to evict him for non-payment of rent.

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How do you sign chicken and chips? Pakistan’s cafe run by and for the deaf

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Menus in sign language and jobs for the hearing impaired are challenging discrimination against those with disabilities

It’s not just the bright yellow walls that make the Abey Khao cafe in Islamabad’s Mughal Market stand out. The menu is in sign language, as is the English alphabet painted on the walls, along with the signs for “yes”, “no”, and “thank you”. Customers are encouraged to place their orders using sign language.

The Abey Khao - which means “Hey Eat” – cafe is the believed to the only fast food cafe in Pakistan set up and run by deaf people.

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Stranded British woman resumes holiday after missing wheelchair part found

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Gemma Quinn, who is paralysed, can continue trip across Asia after Emirates finds part of her custom-built chair it lost

A woman who was left stranded in Singapore after part of her wheelchair was lost while travelling with Emirates from Manchester airport can now continue her holiday after the part was found.

Gemma Quinn, 35, who was paralysed from the neck down in a car accident as a child in 1992, booked a 19-day trip across Asia with her two carers at a cost of more than £15,000.

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TikTok owns up to censoring some users’ videos to stop bullying

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Chinese owned video-sharing site restricted posts by users it identified as disabled, fat or LGBTQ+

TikTok has admitted censoring posts by users it identified as disabled, fat or LGBTQ+ as part of a misguided effort to cut down on bullying on the platform.

According to a report from the German site NetzPolitik.org, the video-sharing site artificially limited the reach of users who it thought would be vulnerable to bullying if their videos reached a wide audience.

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Simple eye care could improve sight of more than 1 billion people – report

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Operation could have corrected vision of many ‘overnight’, while 800 million struggle because they lack access to glasses, according to WHO

More than 1 billion people are needlessly losing their sight because of a lack of simple eye care, according to a landmark report on vision by the World Health Organization.

The research has revealed a wide inequality gap for sight and eye conditions. Rates of blindness in low- and middle-income countries are up to eight times higher than in wealthy countries, with people living in rural areas, ethnic minorities, women and older people suffering disproportionately.

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Paralysed man walks using mind-controlled exoskeleton

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French patient’s breakthrough could lead to brain-controlled wheelchairs, say experts

A French man paralysed in a nightclub accident has walked again thanks to a brain-controlled exoskeleton, providing hope to tetraplegics seeking to regain movement.

The patient trained for months, harnessing his brain signals to control a computer-simulated avatar to perform basic movements before using the robot device to walk. Scientists described the trial results as a breakthrough.

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Intellectually disabled man held in solitary confinement for six years in ‘outrageous’ case

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Adrian was held in seclusion 99% of the time between 24 September 2012 and 18 June 2018

Disability advocates have expressed outrage at revelations an intellectually disabled man judged unfit to face criminal charges was effectively detained in permanent solitary confinement for six years.

The case of Adrian, whose real name has been suppressed to protect his identity, is contained in a scathing report by the Queensland ombudsman into the state’s forensic disability services system.

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