Disabled

If you think that the hotels, restaurants, parks, and other public facilities located in Orange County accommodate everyone, think again. It has been a great concern to me, knowing that those with disabilities have not totally been taken into consideration. Even though it may seem as though local stores have parking spaces for the handicapped, as well as a few ramps on the sidewalks, there are other accommodations that are often not provided for the disabled. Recently at a local supermarket, I witnessed an individual in a wheelchair unable to reach the numbers on the public telephone.

A June 17 news brief began by referring to "costly" renovations to Sacramento sidewalks to ensure disability access. We wouldn't stomach an article about schools, utilities or fire protection that began by referring to "costly" services. They cost money, but we pay a price to live in a safe, inclusive society. Art Blaser Orange

An article (July 18) on a $1-million donation to Nicaragua by Aris and Carolyn Anagnos to build accessible housing for war veterans states that the initial $400,000 will be spent to design and build houses and make them accessible to the disabled. I am sure that there is great need for this type of aid in Nicaragua, but the need for accessible homes in our country should be their first concern. As an advocate for the disabled, I have been constantly arguing for government action to require accessible housing.

Most parents can foresee the time when their children will emerge from their protective care and become self-sustaining, independent adults. Their tenure as the primary provider for their children's needs will come to an end. Parents of the developmentally disabled, however, are parents for life. My son is developmentally disabled and currently lives at the Jay Nolan Center, a residential care facility. He has learned more at the Jay Nolan Center in one year than he did during his 21 years at Camarillo State Hospital, where, for most of those years, his only "program" consisted of hundreds of milligrams of drugs administered daily.

Tia Gindick's story about Mary Nemec Doremus' crusade to change the public image of the disabled ("Making a New Image for Disabled," July 30) reminds me of a giant step toward equal employment opportunity that was initiated by Henry Ford at his factory in Dearborn, Mich., in 1914. In his autobiography, "My Life and Work," (1923) Ford describes his employment policy as one that provided "that no one applying for work is refused on account of physical condition. This policy went into effect Jan. 12, 1914, at the time of setting the minimum wage at $5 a day and the working day at eight hours."

Regarding the article in July 30 View section about Mrs. Mary Nemec Doremus and her "Challenge" organization concerning disabled people ("Making a New Image for Disabled" by Tia Gindick): I am a newly disabled individual and I am particularly offended by the idea that this self-appointed spokesperson may be convincing some people that what she is saying may in fact represent the thinking of other people who are disabled. While she is to be applauded for maintaining her mobility in view of her severe illness, the cry that what we need most is "role models, role models, role models" is pure nonsense.

Jarek Molski certainly must be annoying to businesses as his intent seems to be to make money rather than make it easier for the disabled ("Rolling Thunder," by Matthew Heller, Oct. 2). However, I can understand his anger. I just spent the last three years pushing my husband around in a wheelchair, and I noticed that there are far too many businesses that don't comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Can those businesses understand how degrading it is to a man or woman who can't use the bathroom when they absolutely have to?

Congratulations to Bob Drogin for writing an informative well-balanced article (March 16), "Last Minority/Disabled: Success in Workplace." The fact that this appeared on the front page of a major U.S. newspaper is progress for the developmentally disabled, the mentally retarded. But there is a crisis developing in the community. Where will the retarded adults live as their parents grow older and die? As a board member and past president of Assn. for Retarded Citizens-Southwest, I have seen this crisis developing.

The Schwarzenegger administration plans to close one of California's last large institutional care centers for people with profound developmental disabilities. The 82-year old Lanterman Developmental Center in Pomona, which houses 398 people with severe autism, cerebral palsy and other lifelong disabilities, could shut its doors within two years, said Terri Delgadillo, director of the state Department of Developmental Services. The population of the 302-acre campus has dwindled from a peak of nearly 3,000 in the late 1960s, when a change in state law discouraged housing the developmentally disabled in large institutions.

The severely disabled, including those "locked in" to their bodies as a result of accidents or disease, may soon have a new way to communicate and move around, Israeli scientists said Monday. By sniffing, more than a dozen quadriplegics were able to control computers that allowed them to write and to guide a wheelchair, the team reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . The technology relies on the fact that quadriplegics and others retain control of their soft palates, which regulate breathing through the nose.