2010 Vancouver Paralympic Winter Games Open

The 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Winter Games, one of the largest global athletic events, began March 12 and continue through March 21. This year, about 600 athletes from 40 different countries are competing for medals this year. In the photo (right), Canadian cross-country skier Colette Bourgonje wins Canada's first 2010 Paralymic medal finishing with a silver in the 10km sitting event.

According to the Summit Daily News in Breckenridge, Colorado, NBC will run a two-hour highlights show on April 10 at 1:00 PM, while Universal Sports will broadcast a nightly two-hour show for nine straight nights from March 15 through March 23 at 4:00 PM, repeating at 9:00 PM. To see if you have Universal Sports coverage, visit http://www.universalsports.com/.
Paralympic Sport TV will also broadcast live and delayed coverage on http://www.paralympicsport.tv/. For additional information visit http://www.vancouver2010.com/paralympic-games.

Director James Cameron Called to Start Disability Conversation

Readers, I want to share with you an article by Anna Mai Bertelsen, who blogged today about “Why James Cameron Should Start of Conversation on Disabilities” on today’s Huffington Post. Ms. Bertelsen posits that societally, we engage in a “don’t’ ask, don’t’ tell” de facto policy about disabilities that creates such an encompassing avoidance of things disability that people with disabilities are sidelined from a many if not most of the opportunities that enrich the lives of people without disabilities. She then calls on James Cameron, director of the blockbuster movie Avatar, an action-hero movie in which a character with paraplegia is the lead, to start a conversation about disability and break through the “don’t ask, don’t tell” barrier.

Ms. Bertelsen closes with a challenge the director to “…do something about the lack of chatter. Start it. You have the stage. Break our own version of "don't ask, don't tell." Share your story of creating a solution. Encourage the audience and your Hollywood counterparts to be part of the conversation. Talk to us. Look at us. Ask questions. And, then, let's innovate, invest and include.”

LINK: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anne-mai-bertelsen/why-james-cameron-should_b_487160.html

Today is National Spread the Word to End the Word Day

Condensed Release From the Office of Texas State Senator Judith Zaffirini--

Wednesday (March 3) is National “Spread the Word to End the Word” Awareness Day, offering us a rich opportunity to focus on using respectful language for persons with intellectual disabilities by eliminating the “R-word.”

Our efforts were bolstered recently when an American Psychiatric Association review panel unveiled proposed revisions to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, an influential guidebook in the mental health field. One recommended change favored by the panel is particularly overdue: eliminating all variations of the word "retarded" and replacing them with respectful language referencing persons with intellectual disabilities...

To find out how you can help promote respectful language, visit http://www.r-word.org/. More than 70,000 persons have visited the site and pledged to support eliminating the R-word in their everyday speech.