AZ Indpendent
March 11, 2011
Article & Editorial
Ugly Laws
Spring 2011
Recently I viewed a great film that was released in 2006 called the "Music Within". It is based on the incredible true-life story of Mr. Richard Pimentel, a strong advocate for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); however, it was Mr. Justin Dart, President Bush, Attorney General Thornburgh and Senator Hatch that made the ADA a reality.
At one point in the film, they make reference to Ugly Laws. Apparently, from the late 1860s until the 1970s, several American Cities had ugly laws making it illegal for persons with "unsightly or disfiguring" disabilities to appear in public. Some of those laws were called "Unsightly Beggar Ordinance" and it appeared that the goal of those laws was to preserve the quality of life for their communities; and therefore, similar in spirit to Homeowners Associations’ Regulations and Bylaws. The first appearance of these ordinances was in 1867 for San Francisco. The ordinance seems to have been welcomed from the 1800s in Western and particularly Mid-Western Cities with strong and networked cultures of reform. For example, the Chicago Municipal Code, Section #36034 included an ordinance that stipulated:
"No person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated or in any way deformed so as to be an unsightly, disgusting or improper is to be allowed in or on the public ways or other public places in this city, or shall therein or thereon expose himself to public view, under penalty of not less than one dollar nor more than fifty dollars for each offense"
Many states’ Ugly Laws were not repealed until the 1970s, and Chicago was the last to repeal its Ugly Law in 1974.
When I grew up in London, Ontario, the English curriculum included John Wyndham's "The Chrysalids". It was a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel depicting a world where an extra toe on a newborn would automatically result in the death of that baby, or where anyone different could be sterilized, or they could be taken to the Fringes, an enigmatic land where unfortunate mutants were exiled. Themes within "The Chrysalids" include the inevitability of change, man's inhumanity to his fellow man, ignorance and bigotry. Those same themes are included in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. As a young boy, Frankenstein became obsessed with what gives humans their life spark. In college, he created his own "perfect" human from scavenged body parts; however, once it lived, the creature was so hideous, Frankenstein ran from it.
The prejudices depicted in those novels were a reality enforced by law only 37 years ago! The recantation of those laws is forever tied to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); however, that was only passed 21 years ago, in 1990. The ADA granted certain rights for people with disabilities:
"Individuals with disabilities are a discrete and insular minority who have been faced with restrictions and limitations, subjected to a history of purposeful unequal treatment, and regulated to a position of political powerlessness in our society, based on characteristics that are beyond the control of such individuals and resulting from stereotypic assumptions not truly indicative of the individual ability of such individuals to participate in, and contribute to, society".
We should be eternally grateful for Mr. Pimentel, Mr. Dart, President Bush, Attorney General Thornburgh, Senator Hatch and others who ensured the rights of those whose voices can't always be heard. But at the same time, recognize that no matter what the disability, each person should attempt to "earn" the respect and acceptance of others by respecting and accepting others.
One of the general philosophies of the ADA is to remove barriers by putting the onus on employers to make their businesses accessible, and thus, create an equal playing field for all. Unfortunately, there are certain parts of the United States that have economic challenges not seen since the Great Depression. Some employers protest that complying with the ADA puts further economic hardship on them; however, it makes good economic sense for employers to make their businesses accessible as a means of tapping into a larger workforce and as a means of extracting disposable income from people with disabilities.
True acceptance cannot be it legislated; however, hopefully we can be more accepting of people who are different, and in turn, will be more accepting of our own differences.
I hope you have a happy and prosperous 2011. Take care until next time.
Dan Thompson
Also published in:
I wrote the Ugly Law Newsletter for The Spring Edition of the 2011 Equal-I-Zer Newsletter; however, obviously, the subject matter appealed to a lot of people as it was published in the 2011 Spring Edition of The Canadian Paraplegic Association's Outspoken Magazine, the International Association of Rehab Professional’s Rehabilitation Pro Volume 19, Number 1, Vocational Rehabilitation Association of Canada’s Spring of 2011 Rehabilitation Matters Magazine and on Return to Work Matters.com
Professionals with significant disabilities: balancing health, caregiving and career
April 6, 2010
Dan Thompson and Dr. JR Harding are successful professionals. Both have significant disabilities. For them, balancing health, caregiving and career is their continuing challenge. They describe how they overcome it, day by day, hour by hour. They explain what a significant disability is and what it means to them personally. They talk about their professional lives, how they work, and how their work helps others with significant disabilities. What got them started in their careers? What things gave them the greatest challenges? What things now give them the most job satifaction, and why these generate so much satisfaction? What advice do they have for people with significant disabilities who want to have their own businesses? They talk about caregiving they depend on. How it is organized and by whom: who provides it. And then they share with us their vision for the future for persons with significant disabilities who want to succeed in balancing health, caregiving and career.
Courtesy of www.voiceamerica.com
The Heart
January 2010
Most of us have been taught that the heart is a 10 ounce muscle that pumps blood and maintains circulation until we die. When something goes wrong, you consult a technician (doctor) to repair it. In the worst case, you might be able to replace the pump with someone else's heart.
The heart starts beating in an unborn fetus before the brain is formed. Scientists don't know what triggers the beating, but they use the word "auto-rhythmic" to indicate that the heartbeat is self-initiated from within the heart.
As the brain begins to develop, it grows from the bottom up. Starting from the most primitive part of the brain (the brainstem), then the emotional centres (the amygdala and the hippocampus) begin to emerge. Brain researchers state that the brain then grows out of the emotional regions and I think that speaks volumes about the relationship between thought and feeling.
The source of a heartbeat is within the heart; however, the timing was thought to be controlled by the brain through the autonomic nervous system. But surprisingly enough, the heart doesn't need to be hardwired to a brain to keep beating. For example, when someone has a heart transplant, the nerves that run from the brain to the heart are severed and thus far, surgeons don't know how to reconnect them; however, that does not stop the heart from functioning. After the implant and after the beat had been restored within the new person's chest, the heart keeps beating, though there's no longer any connection to the brain. Having said that, the heart is also a much interconnected organ, as its electrical conduction system is regulated by a combination of body systems including the central nervous system, brain, adrenal glands, and blood chemistry which plays a huge part in heart function, liver, kidney and lungs.
In recent years, neuroscientists have made exciting discoveries. They've found that the heart has its own independent nervous system. There are at least 40,000 neurons in the heart and the same amount is found in various subcortical centres within the brain. The heart's intrinsic brain and nervous system relay information back to the brain in the cranium, creating a two-way communication system between the heart and the brain. Signals sent from the heart to the brain affect many areas and functions in the amygdala, the thalamus and the cortex.
The discovery that the heart has its own nervous system, "a brain", that affects the amygdala, the thalamus and the cortex, helps explain what psychologists John and Beatrice Lacey of the Fels Research Institute realized during the 1970s. At that time, it was known that the body's nervous system connected the heart with the brain, but scientists presumed that the brain made all the decisions. The Lacey’s found that when the brain sent "orders" to the heart through the nervous system, the heart didn't automatically obey. Instead, the heart responded as if it had its own distinctive logic. Sometimes when the brain sent an arousal signal to the body in response to stimuli, the heartbeat sped up accordingly. But frequently it actually slowed down while other organs responded with arousal. The selectivity of the heart's response indicated that it wasn't merely mechanically responding to a signal from the brain. Rather, the heart's response appeared to depend on the nature of the particular task and the type of mental processing it required.
The Lacey’s discovered that the heart appeared to send messages back to the brain and it not only understood but obeyed. It looked as though those messages from the heart could actually influence a person's behaviour. The Lacey’s and others also discovered that our heartbeats aren't just the mechanical throbs of a diligent pump, but an intelligent language that significantly influences how we perceive and react to the world. Subsequent Researchers discovered that the rhythmic beating patterns of the heart are transformed into neural impulses that directly affect the electrical activity of the higher brain centres that involve cognitive and emotional processing.
For centuries, poets and philosophers have felt that the heart is at the centre of our lives. When people are sincere they say, "they're speaking from the heart". They throw themselves into an activity "with all their heart". When they betray their own interests "they're thinking with their head, not their heart" and when they're depressed "their disheartened". Many ancient cultures including the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Babylonians and Greeks maintained that the primary organ capable of directing our emotions, morality and decision-making was the heart.
Most people would rather feel love and appreciation rather than resentment and depression; however, often the world around us seems to be spinning out of control. Despite our best intentions, it's hard to maintain our emotional equilibrium when we're confronted every day, sometimes every hour, with stressful situations. We've all been told, at one time or another, to "follow our hearts". It sounds like a great idea; however, following our hearts and loving people, including ourselves, is easier said than done. New evidence forced us to rethink our attitude toward "following our hearts". The heart isn't mushy or sentimental. It's intelligent and powerful and people at the Institute of HeartMath believe it holds promise for the next level of human development and for the survival of the world. Pretty powerful words but is it true?
I have always considered myself to be a positive person and despite challenges, I have attempted to do the best I could with what I had. Before experiencing it, I heard that going through a separation was one of the most stressful situations an individual could endure. I can tell you that I found my separation to be very stressful. When I broke my neck, I could "control" whether I reacted negatively or positively to situations. Experience provided an understanding of limitations and expectations. On the other hand, the stresses of a separation are not "controlled" by you.
My father said that "family units" were disintegrating. In turn, that affected local communities and ultimately the world. Our increasingly global society is faced with daunting challenges. The world's power structures are changing. Leaders are suffering from a lack of credibility. Technology is rapidly linking the world through satellite television and the internet, creating opportunities and challenges. More nations are gaining nuclear capabilities. Threats of terrorism, global weather changes and uncertainty prevail.
Due to all the change, stress is at an all-time high. Albert Einstein said years ago, "The significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them". Developing the capacity to deal with the challenge of living in a stressful, ever-changing world is more important than ever. To live happily and healthily in all the turmoil that progress brings requires exploring new ideas. A central intelligence within each of us can lift us beyond our problems and into a new experience of fulfilment even amidst chaos.
For more information you can contact the Institute of HeartMath in Boulder Creek, California. The phone number is (831)338-8500 and email is info@heartmath.org.
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