“As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, deciding who to save is no longer a hypothetical exercise in a medical ethics textbook.” The other night, I found myself still wide awake in the early morning hours, trying to slow the rhythm of my breathing. I’d just read yet another article on the ethical dilemma of rationing health care in the face of the ever-growing coronavirus pandemic. I was terrified. I finally drifted off to sleep, only to have a nightmare that I was in a locked ward with hundreds of other disabled people who had all been left to wait out the effects of the illness without any medical intervention. At the very least, this was a sign that I needed to stop scrolling through social media before bed. But even if it was just a bad dream, it felt a little too close to our looming reality for comfort. To read more on this story, click here:As A Disabled Person, I’m Afraid I May Not Be Deemed Worth Saving From The Coronavirus
It is essential that people with disabilities are included in the Coronavirus relief bills moving through Congress right now. Help us tell legislators why! Use your cell phone or computer camera and take a short video of yourself. You can answer things like: 🤝 If I don’t have healthy staff to support me … 💵 Medicaid/Social Security make it possible for me to…. 👪 If my mom/dad/sister/brother can’t take time off work during this pandemic to support me…. Then post your video on social media with the hashtag #WeAreEssential. It’s important to include the hashtag so that we see your story! Click arrow twice to start video.
March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day, a time to celebrate the lives of people with Down syndrome and reflect on the freedoms and opportunities available to them. The cleverly designated date — 3/21 — denotes something unique to people with Down syndrome: three copies of chromosome 21 (instead of the usual two). It’s common for parents of babies with Down syndrome to experience shock, sadness and fear over the unknowns of raising a child who has intellectual and developmental disabilities. Serious health problems can add to the panic; about half of all children born with Down syndrome have heart defects. But veteran parents have a reassuring message for new moms and dads out there: To read more on this story, click here: 21 Things I Wish I Knew About Having A Child With Down Syndrome
Molon Labe Seating of Denver, Colorado has unveiled a prototype of a new airline seat that will allow Passengers of Restricted Mobility (PRM’s) to fly on airlines in their own wheelchairs. The Problem Currently passengers in wheelchairs can’t fly in them. They must transfer from their wheelchair into a Skychair to get down the narrow aisle and then transfer again into their airline seat. To read more on this story, click here:New Airline Seat Design Will Allow Disabled Passengers to Fly in Their Own Wheelchairs
Please sign on now! They are voting today! We need relief, funding, ppe’s, and essential staff recognition for our employees! Thanks ANCOR is issuing a third action alert this week because we have just heard that the Senate Republican and Democrats are working on competing packages for a third round of COVID-19 funding legislation. Because the negotiations surrounding combining these packages are creating new openings for the needs of people with intellectual / developmental disabilities (I/DD) to be heard, we are sending Congressional offices a revised message from the one we sent yesterday. This new message further hammers home how urgently disability supports need funding to ensure the well-being of the people they support during the outbreak, and also expresses disappointment that these supports have not been included in funding packages to date. It is very important that you speak up during this critical time when legislation is being drafted! To sign now, click HERE!
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