Posts

Cafe Chain Staffed by Workers With Down Syndrome

/0 Comments/in , /by

It is a hip-looking cafe like any other in central Paris, thronged with lunchtime diners. Except that Joyeux has a little something extra – many of its cooks and waiters have one more chromosome.

The coffee shop is the latest in a chain of lunch joints springing up across France staffed by people with Down syndrome, autism and other cognitive disabilities.

“Joyeux” means joyous and owner Yann Bucaille Lanzerac said he plans to spread the joy to at least four more outlets across France giving disabled people the chance to show what they can do and earn a living.

Foodie and commis chef Charles has been dreaming for years about cooking in a real restaurant. . .

Waitress Mathilde, 20, who has Down syndrome, said the cafe has already helped her expand her skills as she helped with last-minute preparations for its grand opening on Wednesday, when French first lady Brigitte Macron dropped in for a quick bite. (Read more from “Cafe Chain Staffed by Workers With Down Syndrome” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

18 Things Only Left-Handed People Understand

/3 Comments/in , /by

Did you know that lefties typically have better hearing than righties? Or that presidents are more likely to be left-handed? Both true. But chances are you’re more familiar with the less exciting side effects of being a southpaw. Case in point: the nickname southpaw. Here, 18 things only left-handed people understand.

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

A Teenager’s Horrific ‘Cure’ to End His Internet Addiction

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: Telegraph By Tom Phillips. A Chinese teenager has been rushed to hospital after chopping off his hand in a desperate attempt to cure his addiction to the internet . . .

Hoping to rid himself of the vice, one 19-year-old from the city of Nantong in Jiangsu province took drastic measures of his own. He hacked his left hand off, according to a report on the Jiangsu TV channel.

“We cannot accept what has happened. It was completely out of the blue. He was a smart boy,” his mother, who declined to be identified, told reporters.

The woman said she had gone to her son’s bedroom at around 11pm last Wednesday only to find that he had disappeared. She found a handwritten note on the bed in which he should have been sleeping . . .

By then, her son, who was identified only as “Little Wang” had already smuggled a kitchen knife from their home and snuck out. Safely out of sight, the teenager severed his left hand at the wrist. He called a taxi to take him a nearby A&E and left the hand lying on the ground. (Read more about the teenagers attempt to end his internet addiction HERE)

_______________________________________________________

Teenage Boy Nicknamed ‘Devil Hands’ Undergoes Life Changing Surgery

By Victoria Burt. A teenager was the victim of cruel taunts and jibes after being born with a rare illness that meant his arms were permanently extended above his heads.

Schoolmates called 17-year-old Mamadou “devil hand” or the “claw” and he was shunned from society because of his unusual disability, the cause of which is not known.

But for the first time in his life, the teenage boy is able to move his arms after an international charity Mamadou calls his “guardian angels” heard about his plight and carried out surgery for free to release his arms.

For the first time in his life, his hands and arms are not standing vertical – and he has been reunited with his family who sent him 300 miles away to beg because people would feel sorry for him and they desperately needed money. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Social Security Ran $47.8B Deficit in FY 2012; Disabled Workers Hit New Record in December: 8,827,795

/10 Comments/in , /by

(CNSNews.com) – The Social Security program ran a $47.8 billion deficit in fiscal 2012 as the program brought in $725.429 billion in cash and paid $773.247 for benefits and overhead expenses, according to official data published by Social Security Administration.

The Social Security Administration also released new data revealing that the number of workers collecting disability benefits hit a record 8,827,795 in December–up from 8,805,353 in November.

The overall number of Social Security program beneficiaries—including retired workers, dependent family members and survivors and disabled workers and their dependent family members—also hit a record in December, climbing from 56,658,978 in November to 56,758,185 in December.

In 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was an average of 112.556 million full-time workers in the United States, of whom 17.806 million worked full-time for local, state or federal government. That left an average of only 94.750 million full-time private sector workers in the country.

That means that for every 1.67 Americans who worked full-time in the private sector in 2011, there is now 1 person collecting benefits from the Social Security administration.

Read more from this story HERE.

Touching Video: Cerebral Palsy Sufferer Wins Wrestling Match

/3 Comments/in , /by

With one heartwarming gesture of sportsmanship, a teenage boy has become an internet sensation after letting a severely disabled opponent defeat him in a wrestling match.

Video posted online shows cerebral palsy sufferer Jared Stevens, 13, fulfill his dream to fight in a competitive wrestling match and beat big-hearted Justin Kievit in front of his cheering classmates in Nolensville, Tennessee. With over 100,000 views on YouTube and Facebook so far, the video shows the moment the two boys meet for the first time and show the ‘bigger message’ according to Phil Stevens, Jared’s father.

‘It’s what — a minute, minute and a half maybe?’ said Jared’s dad, Phil Stevens to The Tennessean. ‘But it’s the echoes of it that make the difference.’

Physically, Jared is equivalent to a six-month old but intellectually he has no difficulty and the teen practices with the Sunset Middle School wrestling team every day – but has never competed until now.

‘The first time he met Jared was when he shook hands with him before the match. So it really was spontaneous. They just picked this kid,’ said Craig Kievit, Justin’s father. ‘If you watch the video, he just did an amazing job. There’s not many adults comfortable putting hands on a disabled kid, much less another 13-year-old.’ Read more from this story HERE.

State Forcibly Takes Disabled Child From Mother, Child Dies Next Day

/12 Comments/in , /by

For 14 years, Marie Freye, who is severely disabled, was lovingly cared for by her mother at home living a happy life, despite her disabilities.

On April 26, 2011, the state ordered the 14-year-old, who suffers from cerebral palsy and seizures, be taken into care. She died screaming 24 hours later at a $506-per-day nursing home. Records show that on the evening Marie arrived, nurses did not give her life-sustaining medications, fed her only applesauce and neglected to tell a doctor she wasn’t breathing, it emerged today.

Florida social workers ordered that Marie be taken into the Florida Club Care Center against her mother’s wishes, insisting that it was the safest place for her because of her disabilities, according to the Miami Herald.

Marie’s mother Doris pleaded with the ambulance men not to take her daughter away, which was done despite a judge’s order that she remain under the care of her family. ‘When they took Marie out of my hands, it destroyed our family forever,’ Doris said.

But records show that on the evening Marie arrived nurses did not give her life-sustaining medications and allegedly fed her only applesauce, according to the Miami Herald. She arrived screaming on a stretcher at 5:30 pm, records show. At 9 pm she was given apple sauce and ‘comfort measures’. At 11 pm and 2 am it was recorded that she was screaming again. At 5:40 am, Marie’s breathing was described as labored. Five minutes later she was ‘unresponsive’. At 6:54 am, the 14-year-old died of a heart attack at the Jackson North Medical Center.

Read more from this story HERE.

Eric Holder’s “Severe Mental Deficiency”

/3 Comments/in , , /by

You don’t have to have a severe intellectual disability to work at the Justice Department. But it helps.

According to a July 31 policy memo titled “Hiring of persons with targeted disabilities,” otherwise problematic mental deficiencies are no barrier to jump-starting a career at Justice. The memo lists a number of “targeted disabilities” that trigger special hiring privileges in compliance with President Obama’s Executive Order 13548. Among them are people with “severe intellectual disability,” “psychiatric disability” or other undefined “current severe physical, intellectual or mental conditions.” Most employers would balk at even minor mental disabilities in hiring a lawyer, let alone severe ones. But the policy states that the Cabinet department run by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. must “achieve a work force from all segments of society,” which includes those who are teetering on the edge of sanity.

Mr. Holder’s crazy new human-resources priority says it’s necessary to ensure that people with targeted disabilities “have equal employment opportunities.” It then goes into detail on all the ways in which they will be given special, exclusive treatment. The disabled are eligible for direct hiring in a “streamlined, non-competitive appointment” process that the policy lauds as a “win-win” for the department and the applicant. Of course, this preferential treatment is a lose-lose for the other, perhaps vastly more qualified applicants who were never let in the door, as well as for American taxpayers who cannot benefit from a superior level of public service.

Targeted mentally challenged individuals may be hired for unadvertised positions in a secret, closed-door process that otherwise would be strictly illegal. Standard requirements for prior work experience may be waived so that those who most need to prove they are up to the task don’t have to. Once hired, some of these special hires may have their privileged Schedule A appointments converted into career civil-service positions.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Pat Robertson’s advice – “don’t adopt children”

/6 Comments/in , /by

While discussing a question about adoption on the 700 Club last week, Pat Robertson disagreed with his co-host and stated that women should not adopt children and “take on someone else’s problems.” He notes that children may be sexually molested or abused in other ways prior to the adoption. At the end of the segment, however, Robertson realizes he stepped in it and admits, “OK, I’m in trouble.”

Here’s a transcript of Pat Robertson’s comments:

A man doesn’t want to take on the United Nations, and a woman has all these various children, blended family, what is it – you don’t know what problems there are. I’m serious. I’ve got a dear friend, an adopted son, a little kid from an orphanage down in Columbia. Child had brain damage, grew up weird. And you just never know what’s been done to a child before you get that child. What kind of sexual abuse has been, what kind of cruelty, what kind of food deprivation, etc. etc. “You don’t have to take on somebody else’s problems. You really don’t. You can help people – we minister to orphans all over the world, we love helping people. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m going to take all the orphans around the world into my home.

Video: 8 year old, disabled girl denied entry to Obama event but others admitted

/2 Comments/in /by

After waiting in the sweltering heat, an eight year old girl with Asperger Syndrome was denied entry to an Obama event this weekend, even though others were let in afterwards.  Her dad is thinking about changing his party registration.

Americans Joining Disability Now Outpacing Americans Finding Jobs

/0 Comments/in , /by

In the last three months, more Americans have joined disability than have found a job.

Between April-June 2012, an estimated 246,000 Americans were added to Social Security’s disability insurance program. In that same time period, only 225,000 American jobs were created.

Since 2008, 3.6. million Americans have been added to Social Security’s disability insurance program. In that same time period, a net total of 1.3 million jobs were lost.

“Amazingly, while fewer Americans are working than at the end of 2008, 3.6 million Americans have been awarded SSDI benefits over the same period. The growing number of people on disability and other federal benefits, combined with weak economic growth, raises serious concerns about the sustainability of the American economy,” Senator Jeff Sessions, ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, says in a statement in response to these new numbers.

“It is clear there is a great need to distinguish between proper and improper disability claims, and to better incentivize and find acceptable work for those who are able. Today only 1 percent of Social Security disability recipients ever return to work. The administration of this program must be improved to avoid sinking our country deeper into debt, to ensure the program remains viable for those with disabilities, and to protect Social Security itself.”

Read more from this story and see the charts reflecting these numbers HERE.