Describes the experience of a high school student in Swaziland who donated time to accompany institutionalized children on weekly outings. Discusses his initial repulsion by the children's physical impairments and his development of compassion which grew out of his experiences with one young boy, Mbuso. (GEA)

Even in the 1990s, little research has focused on how local media can more often and more accurately cover the disability community and disability issues. Some positive news coverage arose in the late 1980s because of the disability community's growing status as a minority group striving for equal civil rights. Other positive coverage reflected…

The review of literature on portrayal of disability in books, television, film, and classroom media emphasizes their reinforcement of stereotypic attitudes long held by the public and concludes that initiation of accurate, nonstereotypic portrayals of the disabled on television is long overdue. (MC)

This article discusses attributes of healthy human service systems and the importance of strong sexual self-advocacy by people with disabilities. It outlines how negative attitudes can have traumatizing effects on people with disabilities and argues that by developing positive attitudes a new era of healthy sexual development can begin. (Contains…

Highlights new legal theories and precedents applicable to employment practices used in the library setting. Illustrative case law and law review commentaries are provided for civil rights, discrimination on the basis of a handicap, wrongful discharge, privacy, age discrimination, equal pay, immigration control, retirement benefits, and…

Describes the author's experience with the loss of hearing in early adulthood. The use of hearing aids, the situations in which hearing is easier or more difficult, and discrimination faced by people with hearing disabilities are discussed. A vision of a future that enables hearing-impaired persons to participate is described. (Contains three…

This response to Maag and Howell (EC 602 677) reviews the problem of exclusion from special education of children with social maladjustment. The response considers the historical need to limit services to children or youth with emotional or behavioral disorders and the current underidentification of such pupils. Definitional issues are also…

This essay argues that ideas circulated by Blatt and Dybwad, two scholars who exposed the plight of people labeled "retarded," can be illustrated in certain inclusive education practices and reinforced and refined in various critical narratives about mental retardation, particularly in autobiographical accounts of people with…

Discusses several of the principal issues involved in litigation over disability discrimination in colleges and universities, focusing on enforcement in both administrative and judicial arenas. Concludes that discrimination legislation is complex and may unnecessarily exclude qualified disabled individuals from employment, education, and other…

Every child who enters the doors of the nation's school system deserves an education, including children with AIDS. Parents of AIDS-free children fear that the AIDS-infected child in the classroom threatens the health and safety of the general school community. But according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, casual contact with…

The Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice, comments on the state of disability policy in the United States as reflected in current laws and regulations. Interagency efforts within government are seeking to identify gaps in coverage, as well as duplications and overlap, in existing federal…

In Gurmankin v. Costanzo a U.S. District Court held that a policy of not considering handicapped persons for teaching positions violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it contained an irrebuttable presumption that the handicapped are not competent to teach. The doctrine of irrebuttable presumption is analyzed. (BH)

A Japanese psychologist and educator describes special education in Japan and the Movement for the Coeducation of the Handicapped with the Nonhandicapped in Neighborhood Schools. Influenced by mainstreaming policies in western countries, the Coeducation Movement calls for an end to handicapped student segregation and advocates student…

The rapid adoption of graphic user interface (GUI), as indicated by Microsoft's Windows95 and the Internet's increased use of graphics, is threatening information technology opportunities for people with disabilities. Recent legislation requires that schools provide access to computers and information technology, and producers of Mosaic are…

Research and personal experiences suggest that women in general, and more specifically women from diverse ethnic and social class backgrounds and women with disabilities, do not have equal opportunities to experience the outdoor world. Discusses some obstacles to access and some measures for dissolving these barriers. Cites the National…