Seriously IL

Dee Ann Hart Is Concerned

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 08:30:00 +0000

So last month when the corrupt Indiana IL Council was too scared to go to the meeting and sent Dee Ann Hart instead, at first she didn't want to stay. She threw a fit and walked out of the room. Members of ADAPT and the rest of the audience followed her out into the hall to plead with her to stay and at least hear what they had to say. Since she's not allowed to make decisions on her own, I was surprised to find out that she eventually decided to return.

But not before throwing a fit out in the hallway and insulting fellow council member Teresa Torres. After being asked to talk louder because of Torres' hearing impairment, Hart said "You need to address your issues. Go to counseling or something you have a lot of issues than need to be fixed"

You can see the (very) low quality video below.

Wow. Very professional. Very appropriate. Well, Dr. Dee Ann Hart, Ph.D seeing as how there are millions of people in this country that DO have mental and psychological disabilities, throwing that phrase out there in a derogatory way is something that I'm sure lots of people would find insulting.

Aside from the hundreds of visitors that read this blog daily, I will share this with mental health providers across the state and show them what kind of person we're dealing with here and that Indiana has appointed to a council that addresses the needs of people with disabilities.

Enjoy! And remember, This woman is supposed to be a statewide representative of all disabled people in Indiana.
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Yep, I'm Still Here

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 22:07:00 +0000

So I know I told you guys in my last post that I'd have the new ICOIL meeting uploaded and whatnot but I'm sorry to say that It just hasn't happened yet. I haven't even had any time to report on any other stories in the last few weeks. SO MUCH is going on in the Indiana IL movement that we're all kind of on overload.

So I promise, I've got lots of updates on ICOIL and the puppets on the council. I've got stories about the fight for accessible transportation in Northwest Indiana and so much more. I've got video and audio coming soon as well. Our crew has also been doing interviews for all kinds of media outlets across the whole country.

So in the mean time, Ill plug some other great sites you all need to check out.

http://www.chaironwheels.com/blog/ - A great site by disability rights advocate Kevin Gadsey

http://nickdupree.blogspot.com/ - Another great site by another one of the good guys, Nick Dupree.

And if you're dying to read more about the fraud, corruption, lies and bribery of the Indiana SILC check out Secretary Ramona Harvey's http://www.onecandream.com/ICOIL/
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ICOIL Is Not L33t But I Am.

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 01:17:00 +0000

Well, the Indiana SILC pulled a fast one on us yesterday! Yesterday, residents of Indiana along with ADAPT from Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania came to watch. The only problem was that the Council wasn't present at the meeting! Well, except Jodi James, Ramona Harvey and Teresa Torres who came with the public.

But the funny thing was, the council couldn't have been more present in the room yesterday. If every member showed up hiding behind Groucho Marx glasses I would have probably been MORE likely to say 'Gee, where is everyone?'

You see, Dee Ann Hart and Carol Baker were sent to the meeting pretending that they didn't know there wouldn't be a quorum. Hart even went as far as to straight up tell everyone she didn't know where everyone else on the council was. You gotta give them credit for showing up. I mean, it really was like a scene in one of those war movies where the Coward Sergeant throws one of his soldiers on the grenade to save his own life. Only instead of a soldier, ICOIL threw Dee Ann and Carol into the meeting for them.

But as brilliant and sneaky as the ICOIL members are, I knew they wouldn't be there. And I know where they all were during the meeting. How do I know? Well, because I'm a genius. And while I'm at it, I give you an example of some of the fun tidbits I know about you all.

Carol Baker and Nancy Young, which one of you tech-savvy computer professionals still use Windows 2000? I know it's at least one of you. Am I wrong? No. And while you're at it, using a screen resolution of 600X800 is so windows 98. You should go up to at least 768 x 1024. Also, you use MSIE 6 but Internet Explorer sucks. Upgrade. And why do you sometimes send out emails to the council but exclude certain people? I know the rest of the board does also, but some of what you guys have to say about other people on that board is just wrong. hmm..

And ATTIC, when you went onto Dimenet Monday Nov. 6th afternoon at 2:03:36 PM and read my post and then clicked the link to my blog, by that time you obviously knew what our plans were. ADAPTIndiana@yahoo.com that's me. Still not convinced? Ok, you use Safari 1.2 for your Mac OS X. Well, sometimes you also use firefox.

And greatest of all, my best friend, Keith Coros is a huge fan of this website. Oh, and you there in Tere Haute. Psst...yea, you. I saw you on here November 2nd 200610:46:00 AM. I like YOUR system specs, but switch to firefox.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yea.

Lesson #1 We're not stupid.
Lesson #2 Hiding yourself and sending your pawns into battle for you shows great leadership and is worthy of great respect.
Lesson #3 You can't hide in the world wide web.

I will have the full video up by the weekend. Along with the fight out in the hallway, the VERY nice police (seriously, they were great) and of course, more arguing. Meanwhile that sound you hear is the sounds of people rotting away in nursing homes. Something which ICOIL has the power to help change.

Give me a few days and I'll be back with full video and audio from today's meeting.
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update: Wow. Nobody wasted any time today checking out this blog and the ECCIL website. And to the nice woman who works for the state down there in Indianapolis, when you ran a search for "teresa torres indiana" this morning at 9:52 AM, what were you looking for? All it did was bring you right to my "Long Awaited October ICOIL Meeting" post.
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Now This Is News.

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 00:48:00 +0000

I heard something earlier about today being election day. I'm not really sure so I'm going to have to check into that. But what I do know is that today it's with great regret that I tell you that Britney Spears has filed for divorce from her husband of 2 years Kevin Federline. Hey, don't shoot me I'm just the messenger.

source: yahoo news
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Warner Brothers Sinks To A New Low

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 00:43:00 +0000

I wanted to write another ICOIL story today, but my computer won't let me because it's sick of hearing about ICOIL. But the joke's on you, computer, because I've got a ton of more ICOIL stuff on the back burner. Anyway, onto today's story.

First there was Easter Seals. Then there was Jerry's Kids. Now it seems that there's a new player in the 'exploitation of poor innocent disabled kids' game. Warner Brothers.

In the upcoming Leonardo DiCaprio movie "Blood Diamond" WB filmed in South Africa and used about 30 kids who were all amputees. In exchange for their appearance they were promised prosthetic limbs. The only problem is that shooting has alread wrapped and WB hasn't made good on their promise. According to the New York Post:

"...months after filming ended, Mnisi and his fellow amputees were still waiting. When they asked Warner Bros. about the promised prosthetics, they were allegedly told, "You will have to wait for December, when the movie comes out, so we can get some publicity out of it."

A local African charity, Eastern Cape, came to the rescue when it heard of the amputees' cruelly dashed hopes, and outfitted them with limbs paid for by the organization. Eastern Cape has said that if Warner Bros. does finally come through with the money, it will go to 27 other deserving amputees."

Some people are calling for a boycott of the movie but what good is that really going to do? 'Diamond' director Ed Zwick responded to the accusations which you can read HERE. I started to read it myself, but I felt the smoke getting blown up my ass after the first few sentences so i stopped.

Keith Coros Doesn't Believe Me

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 18:41:00 +0000

Well, I kind of saw this coming. Surprisingly enough, I've gotten some criticism for writing this blog. But none as laughable as my most recent acquisition. It seems that ICOIL member Keith Coros thinks that what I write about him and ICOIL are slanderous, fabrications and lies. He also has accused the director of the Everybody Counts CIL of the same and has even accused her having her "cronies" write these articles. (I'm guessing that would be me.)

When reached for comment, Keith started crying and whining. Then he threw his bottle across the room and shook his rattle really loud! He then stuck his thumb in his mouth and pouted. But then somebody came running with a big sucker for Keith to calm him down.

Not that I really need to explain myself, but I will. I don't know how much more clear I can make this but there is only one person who writes content for this blog. There's only one person who maintains this site, does research for it and tracks statistics for it. I'll give you one guess who that person is. Go ahead, take your time. I'll wait for you to call the people who boss you around and ask them what you should say.

Ok, ready? Here it goes: ME! I am the sole person who writes for Seriously IL. I find my own content and documents and I publish them. If you look at the top right corner of your computer screen and see that dashingly handsome young man looking back at you, that's me! I live in Valparaiso, Indiana completely capable of living, working, and, most importantly, thinking on my own. NOBODY tells me what to write on here.

Here's the problem with accusing me of "Slander", Keith. If I say something that I can't backup with proof then that's considered slander. However, if I say something about you and I have video, audio email or any kind of documentation to backup what I am saying then that's neither lie nor slander. Besides, read the top of this page. These are satirical stories. Satire.

I guess I could end every post with "The preceding story is entirely false." but with pics, video and documents to the contrary it's kind of hard to do that. Feel free to click on my profile and email me or just reply at the bottom of this post so you can ~~whine and cry~~ say whatever you want to me. And out of curiosity, Mr. Coros, where did I slander you or lie? I get hundreds of visitors to this site. So enlighten us. Please
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One of us is a Liar.

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:55:00 +0000

You know, they say that history is only as accurate as the stories told by those who write the history books. There are people who say the Holocaust never happened or that Martin Luther King was a racist and a thief. These people just can not and will not accept things for what they are. They think that if it comes out of their mouths it must be true. But it's hard for me to understand that logic in this, the modern age of technology, what with all the hi-tech gadgets like video cameras, digital cameras and computers.

My point is that I tracked hundreds of people coming to this site to read Monday's story of October's very colorful, heated, loud, argumentative Indiana SILC meeting. I provided video, pictures and audio clips. Add to that my witty and brilliant commentary and you've got yourself a story!

But some people still refuse to acknowledge how that meeting really went down. Yesterday council member Al Tolbert of the Southern Indiana CIL sent out THESE MINUTES to members of the council. Feel free to take a peek at them. Here's what they say in a nutshell:

1. meeting was called to order
2. agenda was approved
3. last few month's minutes were passed
4. recess
5. cops came asked everyone to leave
6. meeting adjourned

Now, maybe Tolbert was at a different meeting than the one I was at, but I'm guessing he left a few things out. I wonder why? Actually I take that back. I know why. We all know why.

It's because the meeting was going so well, everyone was holding hands and smiling at each other and a little cartoon bird from the movie Bambi came in through the window and landed right on Al's shoulder. They talked about how great it was that HUD has agreed to support the creating of more affordable, accessible housing and just then - BAM! the police asked everyone to leave. Just like that. I can understand his disappointment.

I think Tolbert and the rest of the council don't want to acknowledge ADAPT. He thinks that if he leaves out all the parts about people who oppose the council then it never happened. Well, Professor Tolbert, no matter how hard you try, you can't re-write history.

So one of us is a liar. I've shown you all the "Official" ICOIL minutes that reflect their version of the meeting and I've shown you my video of the meeting. YOU DECIDE.
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The Long Awaited October ICOIL Meeting.

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:24:00 +0000

Indiana Statewide Independent Living Council

Well, here we are again. I know you've all heard how ridiculous the Indiana SILC "Situation" is. Little old Indiana and Its little council that argues with each other. I mean, sure there's plenty of other stuff going on that I'd love to write about. Like UPS getting sued for not hiring the deaf. Or the judge in Florida that threatened to fine the Dept. of Family & Children thousands of dollars a day if they don't find placement for mentally disabled inmates. But here we go again, I'll tell you all about the ICOIL circus that I went to last week.

First off, if you haven't read my post last month about ICOIL then you might want to start there. We left off around the time Jodi James and Ramona Harvey, the ICOIL Chair and secretary, respectively, came back from the ADAPT action in Washington D.C. and found out that the meeting Jodi cancelled happened anyway. So they elected a new ~~pawn~~ person to serve as Chairperson. This woman seen here to the right, Dee Ann Hart, is the new puppet. I almost feel sorry for her. Almost. I knew she would come with strings but I had no idea how many people were pulling them. Let's start with Dave Nelson. Throughout the whole meeting Nelson was very subtly giving Hart commands of what to do next. Covering his mouth and telling her to call a recess, telling her that it's time to watch a video etc. The whole meeting. And like any good servant, she obeyed her master.

The only problem was that James and Harvey were TRYing to read their prepared statements that Dee Ann Hart told them earlier that they would be allowed to do. That must not have gone over too well with Hart's masters because she went back on her word and kept interrupting. And it wasn't just her, The women across the room were ganging up on Harvey and James too! One of the women, Teresa Mager, previously wrote an email to Ramona Harvey, who is a very qualified yet unemployed Hoosier, with a pleasant insult referring to her not having a job. Real nice, Mager.
I bet there's a few people who read this blog that would be surprised to learn that the director of the Wabash Independent Living and Learning Center makes fun of disabled people who don't have jobs.

So anyway, then somebody on the council (probably Dave Nelson) told Dee Ann to take a recess and so she did. Buuuut since she's not the real Chair, the meeting went on sans Hart, Pat Stewart, Mager, Al Tolbert, Melissa Madill and a few others. Fifteen minutes go by, they come back inside but this time the State Police are there! Which, being the ADAPT members we are, doesn't really intimidate anyone. Besides, we weren't doing anything illegal. Unless you count Teresa Torres. She said a curse word. And according to one State Trooper if she didn't watch her language then she was going to jail! HAHA no, seriously, listen to the audio clip HERE.

Jeez, where was I? OK, yea so yelling, more yelling and then some screaming, then some more debate on whether the meeting from last month was legal or if it wasn't. Oh, and at the end of the meeting, Member at Large Emas Bennett, who is an ICOIL colleague and former employee of Teresa Torres, expressed his frustration by very eloquently telling Torres to "Shut your fat ass up." Again, why would I make this stuff up? You can listen to it yourself by clicking HERE. Big words for a man who stole computer property of the CIL he was fired from. And while we're on this subject, why is his wife being paid by ICOIL to be his personal assistant? I mean, Emas is a smart man. He's a very capable man who has achieved a lot in his lifetime. He has also sat on many boards and committees and councils. So why NOW does he all of a sudden need a personal assistant? He's blind. So what? ICOIL supplies everything in alternative format. If anyone has the answer, please, enlighten me. Remember, you can post comments at the bottom of this blog entry.

So I'll leave you all with these questions: Why did ICOIL kick off Jodi James and Ramona Harvey? Why is Dave Nelson giving Keith Coros money. (wait, I can answer that one. He wants his vote.) And most of all, WHY isn't the Council more concerned with the PEOPLE IN INDIANA WITH DISABILITIES than they are with money and power? There is SO much good happening in this country and Indiana is becoming a laughing stock. Shouldn't we be talking about stuff like THIS?

I can't give a complete recap of this meeting without giving props to Indiana and Ohio ADAPT for coming out and supporting our brothers and sisters in this battle. Sure, there were only about 15 or 20 of us, but there's always next month.

If anyone would like to see this meeting, I would recommend you go to the Everybody Counts website. There you can see the meeting in its entirety. They have a version for hi-speed users and one for those of you who use dial-up. Grab your popcorn, it's a good one. And please, leave your comments either here or the forums that Everybody Counts has set up at www.everybodycounts.org/forums
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So, until next time,
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Thank You, ICOIL!

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 16:42:00 +0000

Well, I started this blog a few months back as a way that I, a simple resident of Indiana, could share my take on the Disability Rights world with the rest of the country. I would have been satisfied if just one person read what I had to say and was more aware of the IL community.

But I'm very proud to say that a bit more than just one person is interested in what I have to say. Quite a bit more. Traffic around here has skyrocketed. What sparked the interest? Well, according to my server logs, the ICOIL story seems be the reason.

So as hard as the Indiana Statewide IL Council tries to subtly change the rules, lie, hide what they do etc., it's not so subtle. People are watching you. Lots of people. What you're trying to do isn't a secret. Just ask my readers all over Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee, Washington D.C., Alaska, Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Kentucky, Illinois, New Hampshire, Nebraska .... well, you get the idea.

You're Kidding, Right?

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 02:52:00 +0000

So, earlier this month the September ICOIL meeting was cancelled by its chair, Jodi James. One would think to themselves, Ok so looks like were just going to meet next month instead, right? WRONG. The rest of ICOIL decided to have a meeting anyway, even though their room and sign language interpreter and everything else was cancelled.

So why did they hold the meeting anyway? Well, because they wanted to try to vote out the chair, secretary and treasurer. And why would they want to do that? Easy. Because the aforementioned ICOIL officers were starting to do good work. They were asking questions. And most inportantly, they wanted to focus on real issues related to people with disabilities Indiana.

While the rest of the council met unofficially in a makeshift meeting room in Indianapolis, chairperson James was in Washington D.C. fighting for rights of the disabled. She was at HUD fighting for more accessible housing. She was meeting with congressmen to push for better home health care. You can see some of her journey here. What was ICOIL doing back home? Talking about who gets gas money to drive to the meeting they had. No, seriously. They did.

So, the most important part of this whole thing is that some might say that ICOIL wanted Jodi James to be their puppet. They told her what to do and say and it actually worked for quite a while. But not anymore. Secretary Ramona Harvey also went to D.C. and ICOIL voted her out too.

Its really funny to those of us who stand outside looking in because the obviousness of whats going on here is...well, OBVIOUS. First of all, a few months ago ICOIL gave James carte blanche to basically do anything. Schedule meetings, cancel them, etc. They wanted to control the future of the council and James was the perfect pawn to do so, and now that she has taken the red pill and escaped from the Matrix, she finally realizes this.

Now, the fact that new ICOIL members are almost ALWAYS promised money for a new center of their own is discussion for another day, but just to let you all know, it still happens. Half a dozen poor souls that are new on the council are being promised money for centers of their own or at least money for other endeavors....AS LONG AS THE PLAY BALL. Can anyone say Puppet government?

Anyway, so James, who has complete authority to run that council was apparantly voted out of her seat because of her going to the ADAPT action earlier this month. WOW. We wouldnt want her fighting for our and her rights would we now?

But they "got her". Oh yea they "got her" really good. Can you sense the sarcasm? Good. Because I'm laying it on pretty thick. You give this woman authority and then dont let her use it. She got blindsided. But is all lost? Nah. We may have a new chair. Dee Ann Hart. Who is she? Um, who knows but apparntly she comes with strings because every single action she takes from now on her strings (if she stays chairperson) will be pulled to make her do exactly what the rest of the goobers in ICOIL want her to do.

After all, I mean, like we really need to pay Emas Bennett's wife to sit there and attend a meeting with her college educated husband and write her off as a "Personal Assistant" And the council needs to talk week after week about garbage that is completely irrelavent anyway.

So heres the lesson for those of you kids out there who want to know more about ICOIL. if you want to join, heres what will happen:

1) if you are disabled and look pitiful, they'll take you.
2) they will go on to promise money to you to open a new office that you can call your own.
3) you will realize that youre not getting any money so you get upset
4) you start to do your job well
5) then you will be run off the board for asking too many questions.

To Clarify #5 Just ask Ms. James, Dick Crandall, Mark Bair, John Guingrich etc. and the list goes on.

*SIGH*

To see a video of this unofficial meeting, go the Everybody Counts ICOIL meeting archive here.

Wow. Just Wow.

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 19:25:00 +0000

So, Katie McCarron was a 3 year old girl with autism. Her mother, Karen McCarron was a doctor who is said to be a woman who was big on finding a cure for autism. Her friends were the kind of friends who would pat her on the back every chance they could because of her bravery.

On May 13, 2006 this headcase killed her daughter. She put a plastic bag over Katie's head and killed her. She held a plastic bag over her 3 year old's head until she couldn't breathe any more. And then she died.

A lot of people can see this for what it is. But this lady actually has legions of supporters. Really.

I'm not an expert on Autism, but I thought to myself "There can't be people out there who condone this sort of thing." But i was wrong. After reading up on all this for a little while I came across some pages talking about a short film called "Autism Every Day" put out by Autism Speaks. So I searched Yahoo Video and here's what I found on the first page. (click on the picture for a fullsize shot)

Two and a Half Morons

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 01:25:00 +0000

So I'm on vacation for the 4th of July today. Just hanging out at home watching T.V. and I come across the show "Two and a Half Men". Knowing that what this show lacks in humor it makes up for in stupidity, I change the channel. But not before hitting the "Info" button on my Comcast Digital Cable remote control and I couldn't beleive what I saw. The name of this episode is "Love Isn't Blind, It's Retarded". Seriously.

Now, while I may not be blind or "retarded" I think that's kinda mean. But who's to blame here? Sure, Charlie Sheen is the easy target. The guy isn't really someone for kids to look up to. Aside from being ordered to stay 3000 feet away from his wife and kids at one time, and being accused of playing a key role in the death of a porn star/hooker he allegedly paid $15,000 to sleep with....honestly I can't remember where I was going with this.

Maybe writer/creator Lee Aronsohn is the one to point the finger at. After all, this is the guy who brought us "Grace Under Fire" and "Who's the Boss". Not exactly quality programming.

I don't know. CBS greenlit this show and somebody thought the title of this episode was funny. I didn't. Maybe I am "retarded" after all.

sources - nydailynews, imdb.com

George W. Bush is Mean.

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 02:38:00 +0000

Today GWB gave a press conference at the Rose Garden and answered reporters questions as usual. Until Los Angeles Times reporter Peter Wallsten stood up to ask a question about White House credibility now in the aftermath of top aide Karl Rove having been cleared in the CIA leak investigation.

"Bush called on Los Angeles Times reporter Peter Wallsten and asked if he was going to ask his question with his "shades" on.

"For the viewers, there's no sun," Bush said to the television cameras.

But even though the sun was behind the clouds, Wallsten still needs the sunglasses because he has Stargardt's disease, a form of macular degeneration that causes progressive vision loss.

The condition causes Wallsten to be sensitive to glare and even on a cloudy day, can cause pain and increase the loss of sight."

source - CNN.com

below you can watch the incident in question

Ouch. Bush later called to apologize to the young reporter, but the incident still resinates in our minds that once again, Bush is kind of a dumb ass. The picture below shows how he speaks to blind people from now on.

Paris Hilton Needs Handicapped Parking

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 03:45:00 +0000

Well, another high profile star has done it again. Rarely does such a faux pa of this kind make it into the mainstream news, but here it is right from the Page Six in New York Post.

June 8, 2006 - PARIS Hilton looked able-bodied last time we looked, but she's been parking in a space reserved for handicapped drivers. Residents of a posh Los Angeles apartment complex that's home to her boy toy, Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart, say every time she visits, the celebutard thoughtlessly pulls into the handicapped spot. "I find the reports surprising," said Paris' spokesman Elliot Mintz

I know. We can't expect Paris to care about parking illegally in those spots. She has, like, more important things to worry about.

page six - here

There's BIG money in Crips!

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 20:23:00 +0000

As far back as I can remember I have always been one who loved to build stuff. I loved to take stuff apart and put it back together. When I was 8 or 9 years old, sometimes I would make some kind of crazy new contraption out of a bunch of broken electronics I had lying around. The end result was never much more than a 9 volt battery powered motor or some kind of microphone that did more screeching than anything.

But once in a while there was that one gem. That shoddily built "invention" I made that was going to change the world. Or at least be cool enough to show my friends. But I always knew in the back of my mind whatever I made was still no more valuable as the broken items they came from. I was 9 years old and I knew that.

But apparently there's a company out of Richmond, Virginia named TASHinc. that doesn't understand concepts such as that. This company sells items that cater to people with disabilities and offer expensive products to help the customer be able to use them more easily ecause their disability might otherwise make it difficult. They are an exaggerated example of the old saying about the American Dream - "Buy something for a dollar, sell it for two." Except in their case its more like "Sell it for 300 times what it's worth."

Point in case is the one particular item that they offer in their catalog. It is a Joystick that you use on the computer to make it act like a mouse. It is marketed as some kind of an alternative to a mouse that someone with limited use of their hand might use. Sounds cool, right? Well, yes but it costs $305! So let's look further into this.

Converting a joystick to act like a computer mouse is a bit more simple than TASH would like you to think. First of all, you can buy a computer joystick ust about anywhere for about $20. Now you wanna make it a mouse. A simple search on google will land you several free scripts for this kind of conversion such as this free one. But lets say you're not good with scripts. Here is some free software that will do the same thing for you. There are even cool step by step tutorials to help you build one for about $1 - $5. Like this one.

But, even with all that free content right at your fingertips, TASH still sells crap for the price of gold. And it's not limited to them. Check out ANY "mobility aids" type catalog and you'll see the same thing. Way overpriced common items. WHY? Because they want you to think that you poor crips out there need a special catalog with special products just for you and if you don't buy them, you'll be screwed. Meanwhile, if you do buy them, you go broke. If medicare / Voc Rehab etc. buys them, pretty soon they will deem you too expensive to keep providing services to and then what?

These companies aren't part of the solution, they are a huge part of the problem. Last year I got a catalog sent to my office. On the front cover was software for a virtual keyboard that displayed on the screen so you could point and click. Want to know the price of that great item? 2 grand. That's right. 2 grand. A $2,000 keyboard for your $400 computer. Well, until we can step up and call them on their shit, there will be BIG money in crips.

The picture below is the $305 joystick mouse.

You can cut the irony with a knife.

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Sat, 06 May 2006 05:03:00 +0000

Tennessee has done it again. It has shown more lack of understanding and compassion for the disabled. This time it's towards Glen Barnhill. A man who is a paraplegic and uses a ventillator to breathe. He lives in his own apartment and takes classes on becoming a social worker. But, right now the ICU at vanderbuilt hospital is where he calls home. Why? well the judge wont let him go home. Why the hell is there even a judge involved? beats me. But the point is that he has committed no crime, yet is being detained at the hospital and faces possible transfer to a nursing home. See, blue cross - blue shield (bcbs) cant find him a new home healthcare nurse for him. The problem here is that Complete Home Health, the agency that provides Glen's nurses, WARNED bc/bs that care would be cut off ONE MONTH before bc/bs even started looking for a new personal attendent for Glen. So now he's basically 1) locked up 2) can't go home and 3) might go into a nursing home.

ok, here's the irony, Glen was one of the many protesters that took over the capitol building in March and fought for the Governer to reform its health care system. Hell, he even testified before a panel on how happy he is in his own home and NOT a nursing home. and how independent that makes him. So what the hell is the problem here? why does he have to suffer any more? is Tennessee really that incompetent? do i really need to ask?

And what makes this all that more of a slap in the face is that for every $1 Tennessee spends on home health care, it spends something like $168 on nursing homes. OUCH!

oh, and you can read all about it here and here.

Teddy Bears Are Mean

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 03:05:00 +0000

Ah, teddy bears. I remember my favorite teddy bear from when I was a kid. His name was Mikey. I loved all my stuffed animals and they loved me too. They used to tell me so. But the teddy bear in these pictures is a little bit different from the one I used to have. This teddy bear is mean. His shirt says:

"Life without standing is unBEARable"

We all know that there are, in fact, people in this world who can't stand and use wheelchairs because of various disabilities. So why would a Saginaw, Michigan wheelchair company called "The Standing Company" make bears like this to give away at.....well, I'll tell you where it was raffled off in just a minute. But first, back to the company. They make whelchairs that can raise the user from a sitting position to an upright "standing" position. So they can finally do things like participate in church, look out a window and have an all around sense of "feeling good".

Ok. there's so many different directions i can go in here, but I won't. I'll just tell the God's honest truth about where this bear ended up. This malignant bear was raffled off at the Indiana Governer's Planning Council for PEO PLE WITH DISABILITIES annual conference. Needless to say, most attendees were people with disabilities.

But it doesn't end there. I wish it did, but it doesn't. The winner of the raffle was a 29 year old Indiana woman who has cerebral palsy and - you guessed it - uses a wheelchair. So, here's your prize, lady! A stuffed bear telling you how worthless your life is!

I heard that "The Standing Company" also has a teddy bear for amputee children and his shirt reads "I'm BEAR-y glad I have both my arms and legs." But that's just what i heard.

ADAPT in Nashville March 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Seriously IL) — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 15:11:00 +0000

ADAPT's spring action was March 18 - 23 in Nashville Tennessee. Why Nashville, you ask? Well, simply put Nashville is one of the worst states when it comes to spending money on home health care. Actually here's just how bad:

$1 spent on home health care = $168.00 on nursing home care.

So ADAPT took to the streets of downtown "Music City" to try to get governor Bredesen to hear their concerns. For two days ADAPT-ers blocked traffic for hours and workers at the Capitol Building were stuck with no way to get out. Over a hundred arrests later, the governor released this statement:

"This is a national professional protest group, and today's action is an extreme publicity stunt that has created a serious disruption to downtown businesses and state employees. In addition, event organizers have placed protesters in harm's way by exposing them to inclement weather and unsafe road conditions. There is nothing constructive to be gained by these actions."

source

Judging by pictures HERE and HERE and even HERE, I'm sure a little rain was the last thing on their minds when they were taking over the city. I mean, these are the people who marched 144 miles in 2003 to raise awareness for the same issues. That's right, 144 miles. Over steep hills. And rain. With not a lot of food. Anyway, either Governor Bredesen is completely missing the point here, or he is pretending to completely miss the point. Either way, it doesn't make him look like the stand up guy we all know politicians to be. But can we really expect more from the man who cut or severely limited almost a million people's healthcare? Actually I'm surprised he didnt show up to the protest to wheel some of the protestors into oncoming traffic.