Down Syndrome births drop in state:

Sunday, 09/03/06
Decline suggests abortions up in wake of better tests

By CLAUDIA PINTO
Staff Writer

Amid new testing procedures during pregnancy, the percentage of babies born with Down syndrome has plummeted nationwide since the late 1980s, researchers have found.

The trend — which is less pronounced in Tennessee than elsewhere — suggests to some researchers that more women are opting to terminate Down syndrome pregnancies, raising alarm among some ethicists and disability rights advocates.

Tennessean.com Link to Source

Draft Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities -(Advance Unedited Version) -

The draft convention seems to be online now. Have a look at give your comments.

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Atlas of Poverty

Where the Poor Are: An Atlas of Poverty brings together a diverse collection of maps from different continents and countries, depicting small area estimates of vital development indicators at unprecedented levels of spatial detail.

The atlas is a product of the CIESIN Global Poverty Mapping Project, begun in 2004, which was made possible by support from the Japan Policy and Human Resource Development Fund, in collaboration with The World Bank. The atlas of 21 full-page poverty maps reveals possible causal patterns and provides practical examples of how the data and tools have been used, and may be used, in applied decisions and poverty interventions.

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Nanowater

Hi everybody,
my next column is available. It includes the issue of disabled people and water and sanitation
Click here

for history and future columns see
http://www.bioethicsanddisability.org/column.html
Any comments welcome
Cheers
Gregor

'Stop neglecting us in public transport plans, please'

Kimberley Lau

KUALA LUMPUR: Eight organisations representing the disabled want their needs to be prioritised when the government builds new monorail systems in Penang, Johor and Putrajaya.

Reiterating their earlier disappointment over the disabled-unfriendly KL Monorail, Anthony Thanasayan of Access and Inclusion for the Disabled said they wanted the disabled to be included in committees that are responsible for the development of the new monorail or light rail transit projects.

He said such a move will benefit some 170,000 registered disabled persons in Malaysia.

"We want the government to give disabled persons access to the country through means of public transport and buildings. Without this, getting a job or going to school is out of the question," he said.

He was speaking in a press conference today (Aug 29, 2006) to highlight the fact that the disabled, until today, still lag far behind non-disabled persons, even though the country is celebrating 49 years of independence.

Representatives from seven other organisations were also present. They related personal accounts of how unfriendly public places are to them.

Thanasayan said the lack of suitable public transportation for disabled citizens remains one of the most neglected issues.

He insisted the disabled be considered in the upcoming budget.

"Last year's budget included as many as 200 new buses for the general public. As equal citizens of the country, we ask that the government ensure that the new buses are wheelchair accessible.

"These are normal buses that are used by able-bodied persons. All we ask is that two seats are secured for the disabled and that some include lifts for those on wheelchairs," he said, adding that such disabled-friendly buses have been in use in Vietnam, Thailand, China and India for many decades.

"It is a crying shame that after half a century of independence, Malaysians with disabilities still don't have the freedom to travel around independently and have to remain stuck at home, forced to be a burden to society."

Some disabled needs:

> Traffic lights with bleepers on all roads;
> Even pavements without obstructions (e.g. trees, uncovered manholes, stalls);
> Consistent ramps and rails in buildings;
> Voice announcements and braille buttons and tickets in lifts and ticketing machines
> Monthly allowance to help meet basic living expenses;
> Car park lots located near to entrances of shops, malls and other places that are properly covered; and
> Trained personnel who know how to assist a disabled person.

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Nanotech bio-battery to power rtificial retina

Permalink: Nanotech bio-battery to power artificial retina

AT UN, DELEGATES FINALIZE NEW TREATY PROTECTING RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

AT UN, DELEGATES FINALIZE NEW TREATY PROTECTING RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
New York, Aug 27 2006 10:00PM
After five years of negotiations, countries meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York have agreed on a new treaty to protect the rights of persons with disabilities.

"This is the first convention of this magnitude for this century," UN General Assembly President Jan Eliasson said after the agreement was reached late Friday. He told the negotiators that they were conveying to the world "the message that we want to have a life with dignity for all and that all human beings are all equal."

"This marks a great day for the UN and for persons with disabilities," said New Zealand's Ambassador Don MacKay, who chaired the talks through its final sessions. "It's a good convention and it will make a difference for millions of people."

The successful completion of the treaty, after a day of intense negotiations and compromises that capped years of effort, was met with applause by well over a hundred government delegations and hundreds of representatives of disability organizations who participated in the process of crafting the 40-article pact.

Proponents of the convention maintained that the treaty was necessary because persons with disabilities represented one of the most marginalized groups and that their rights had been routinely ignored or denied throughout much of the world.

While the convention does not create new rights, it specifically prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in all areas of life, including civil rights, access to justice and the right to education, health services and access to transportation.

The convention was largely approved by consensus, although there was a vote on a provision concerning "foreign occupation" that was included in the preamble.  With five countries voting against, the provision was adopted.

The convention will be formally sent to the General Assembly for adoption at its next session, which begins in September. It will then be open for signing and ratification by all countries.

It is estimated that 10 per cent of the world's population, or about 650 million people, suffer from disabilities.
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2006-08-27 00:00:00.000