State rep. urges Legislature to remove the word 'handicapped' from all Massachusetts laws

BOSTON – Massachusetts six years ago renamed its former Department of Mental Retardation and should now take the next step and wipe the words "handicapped persons" from the state's laws, according to a state representative from Somerville.

"It's an offensive and antiquated word," Rep. Denise Provost told the Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities on Tuesday.

Striking the word handicapped from the books is just as important as renaming the former DMR as the Department of Developmental Services (DDS), according to Provost, whose bill (H 121) runs for 21 pages and repeatedly inserts "persons with disabilities" to replace "handicapped."

In 2010, a year after the department's name was changed, Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law a follow-up bill replacing the words "mental retardation" with "intellectual disabilities or disability" in the Massachusetts General Laws.

The Provost bill also addresses what she called other "antiquated aspects" of the state's laws, ensuring that state laws are "no less protective" than the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, including in the areas of employment and Architectural Access Board standards. "Our laws are now out of sync with federal law," she said.

Via: MassLive

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Calif. town raises money to build new home for Iraq vet

LANCASTER, CALIF. –  When Jerral Hancock came home from the Iraq war missing one arm, with another that barely worked and a paralyzed body that was burned all over, he was a hero to this Mojave Desert town that wears its military pride on its sleeve.

Soon he was being called upon to use his one remaining hand to cut ribbons and wave to people during parades. Then, after everyone had gone home, Hancock would too. That's where he would be forgotten by all but his two young children and his parents.

That was until the students in Jamie Goodreau's U.S. history classes learned how Hancock had once gotten stuck in his modest mobile home for half a year -- "like being in prison," he recalls -- when his handicapped-accessible van broke down. Or how the hallways of his tiny house were so narrow he couldn't get his wheelchair through most of them.

They would fix that, Goodreau's students decided, by building Hancock a new home from the ground up. One that would be handicapped accessible. It would be their end-of-the-year project to honor veterans, something Goodreau's classes have chosen to do every year for the past 15 years, usually raising $25,000 or $30,000 for veterans charities and a celebratory dinner.

This time, however, the stakes would be much higher.

Via: Fox News

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