Community Linkage

ProPublica: Journalism in the public interest reports that the process of discharging disabled borrowers education debt isn’t working.

“Education Department Bureaucracy Keeps Disabled Borrowers in Debt”

“Under federal law, borrowers who develop severe and lasting disabilities after taking out federal student loans are entitled to have their debts forgiven. The system was meant to be compassionate: to spare former students who become disabled from a lifetime of ruined credit, garnished benefits, and spiraling debt. But an investigation by ProPublica and the Center for Public Integrity has found that the process of discharging the loans of disabled borrowers is broken.”

Disabled World

The American Association for Homecare has an article up. “Mobility Providers Ask White House to Address Gross Mismanagement of Mobility Benefit”

“As the Obama administration embarks on improving the efficiency of government agencies, attention must be focused on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) supervision of the Medicare power mobility benefit. The White House would be hard pressed to find a government operation more outdated, mismanaged and wasteful of taxpayer dollars.”

“Power wheelchairs save taxpayer funds by curtailing emergency room visits caused by fall-related injuries, while also allowing Medicare patients to age at home rather than being admitted into costly nursing homes. Yet, CMS policies and guidelines continue to make it more difficult, rather than easier, for seniors and people living with disabilities to obtain mobility assistance.”

“Malnutrition: A skeleton in the Australian Health Care Closest: by Wiley Blackwell

In her lead article in the Dietitians Association of Australia’s journal, Nutrition & Dietetics, Dr Karen Charlton said malnutrition often goes undiagnosed and untreated as it is not considered a clinical priority in hospitals and aged care settings.

Australian research has revealed more than one in three hospitals patients are malnourished and the rates can be as high as 70 per cent in residential aged care.

“Australian Disability Support Pension Recipients Who Are Denied Right to Travel Freely Internationally” by Julian Donn She wants people to know about the trouble of Australian Disability Support Pension recipients who are denied the right to travel freely outside of the country.

Read more: http://www.disabled-world.com/news/australia-nz/international-travel.php#ixzz1DxU0xa3W

At Disaboom Gary Karp, author and noted speaker, answers a questions about love.
“So, what’s the disability angle on this? Well, because people with disabilities often feel disregarded as partners simply because of a disability, there is a greater potential to either grasp too firmly on it when it happens, or be afraid to trust that it’s real, as you say in your question. In either case the result is the same—you’re not going to be truly present with that person. You risk misunderstanding the real dynamics of the relationship and how it wants to evolve. If you’ve been having a hard time finding a partner (not exclusive to disability, for sure) and finally connect with someone, don’t fall into the trap of thinking, “This has to work! I may not get another chance.””

Over at Yahoo! Accessibility there is a commentary called “Social Media Makes Us “Less Human”?” Written by GimpGirl Community. It tackles MIT professor Sherry Turkle’s book Along Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. yaccessibilityblog.com/wp/social-media-makes-us-less-human.html

If you come across something on the internet you want to share with the community, email me [email protected]