By Jessica Hayes, Public Relations & Marketing Coordinator

"This is the single worst case of irresponsible behavior on the part of parents, the media and the Autism Society of Illinois that I've ever seen," said Not Dead Yet research analyst Steven Drake regarding the May 13, 2006 murder of Katie MaCarron.

Karen McCarron, a 37 year old doctor from Morton, IL has been charged with allegedly suffocating her three year old daughter to death with a plastic bag, after confessing to both family members and police. The mainstream media has taken the stance that Karen McCarron's alleged actions were somehow justified by the fact that Katie had autism. It has been widely reported that Karen was a mother who without support or services to help her autistic child, ended her daughter's painful existence.

Not Dead Yet, a national disability rights group dedicated to opposing the euthanasia and assisted suicide of people with disabilities, has led the charge to expose the real facts of the McCarron case - a case that has relatively little to do with autism.

The Peoria Journal Star has covered the McCarron case through a series of articles including several opinion pieces. These articles relied heavily on comments from friends of Karen McCarron and autism experts from such groups as the Autism Society of Illinois. Friends paint Karen McCarron as a "dedicated" mother, and describe having a child with autism as being like a "death, because a child you had in mind has died."

In a Peoria Journal Star article from May 23, a columnist quoted Christopher M. Kennedy, a legislative director of the Autism Society of Illinois as saying that, "Karen's feelings of isolation and despair are the norm, not the exception."

Not Dead Yet's Drake points out a few details the media has chosen to gloss over. First and foremost is the fact that Katie McCarron did not live with her mother on a full time basis. In fact, little Katie had lived with her father and paternal grandmother in North Carolina for the 20 months prior to her death. The family had made the decision to move Katie there in order to attend programs designed for children with autism. In a statement released by Katie's paternal grandfather, he said the family was reunited only on weekends or whenever time permitted.

But after almost two years of living apart, the family decided to reunite for good. Katie had only lived in Morton, IL with both her parents for 10 days before she was murdered.

The details of Katie's murder are gruesome. According to police, Karen McCarron allegedly took her daughter for a drive because she was unable to settle down for a nap. They ended up at Karen's parent's house where she knew no one was home. She then placed a plastic bag over Katie's head and spent the next two minutes suffocating her daughter to death. Karen returned home and carried Katie's lifeless body past visiting family members, and placed her in bed, acting as though the little girl had gone to sleep. Karen McCarron then drove to a local grocery store where she was captured on security camera disposing of a plastic bag in a garbage can, allegedly the bag she used to suffocate her daughter, and went inside to buy ice cream. Several hours after returning home, Karen McCarron alerted family members that Katie was not breathing. Paramedics were called while Karen began performing CPR on her daughter.

Katie's father Paul McCarron was away on a business trip, and arrived home late in the evening after his daughter was killed. Police say Karen confessed to her husband and tried to overdose on over the counter medication. Paramedics were once again called to the McCarron home. Although authorities did not suspect foul play earlier in the evening, after being taken to the hospital for treatment related to the attempted overdose Karen allegedly confessed to police that she had suffocated her daughter.

Paul McCarron has filed for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty and has also begun court proceedings to freeze the couple's assets. Previously under suicide watch in a Tazewell County jail with a $2 million bond, as this edition of The Catalyst goes to press, Karen McCarron has been moved to a confined mental health treatment facility in Springfield.

It will likely be difficult for Karen McCarron to mount a successful sympathy defense, due in large part to the efforts of Katie's grandfather Michael McCarron, 62, of Indian-apolis. Michael McCarron calls it a "very straight forward murder case," and was quoted in a May 24th Peoria Journal Star article as saying, "I am positively revolted when I read quotes that would imply any degree of understanding or hint at condoning the taking of my granddaughter's life." He makes it clear that, "This was not about autism. This was not about a lack of support."

Friends of Karen McCarron say she was distraught over what she perceived as a lack of progress or a "regression" in her daughter Katie's development, and that she was very worried about what types of services could be provided in Illinois. Michael McCarron says, "Katie wasn't in central Illinois (until May) . . . so what programs central Illinois has or doesn't have . . . has not one ounce of applicability to (the death of ) Katherine McCarron."

While others have focused on what they perceive as wrong with Katie, Michael McCarron has told the media about a happy, bright and vibrant little girl.

"This was our first granddaughter," said McCarron. "Autism or not, you don't get any more special than that."

Among Katie's favorite things were her Teletubbies, plastic farm animals, playing on the swing set and being outside. Like many children with autism, verbal skills were difficult for Katie to master, but at age three her favorite phrase was "I love you." Michael McCarron said she would line up all of her dolls and Teletubbies and happily babble to each of them. Katie was the first student in her preschool class to correctly identify an octagon.

Michael McCarron told the Peoria Journal Star that he agrees improved services are needed to help families with children who have autism, but he rejects the notion that Katie's death is an understandable result of the lack of services.

"When people say, 'I can understand that,' I just want to cover my head," said McCarron. "We're not dealing with desperation here. We're not dealing with 'we have to end this child's pain.'

"Having held that little girl in my arms and have her laugh with me or have her clutch me when I gave her raspberries, I can't understand that."

Lexus Fuller Little over a month after the murder of Morton, IL toddler Katie McCarron, a nearby mother in Pekin, IL was charged with attempting to kill her four year old daughter. Kellie Warem-burg, 32, was charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery on June 22, 2006 for allegedly giving her daughter Lexus Fuller a potentially lethal overdose of medication including Phenobarbital and 100 crushed sleeping pills.

Police responded to a 6 a.m. call on June 21, 2006 involving an "unresponsive child"

Unlike Katie McCarron, Lexus Fuller did not have autism, but media coverage has zeroed in on the fact that Fuller does have cerebral palsy.

Waremburg allegedly told police that she wanted Lexus "to go to sleep and not wake up."

The overdose of medication caused Lexus to go into convulsions and stopped her heart. Paramedics were able to revive her, and she was hospitalized at St. Francis Medical Center until June 25th.

The Peoria Journal Star reports that Waremburg is planning an insanity plea, and that her attorneys are confident that once a jury hears the facts of the case, she will be found not guilty. Both of the murder and battery charges Waremburg is facing are considered Class X felonies and can be punishable with as much as 60 years in prison each.

Waremburg is currently in a Tazewell County jail where she remains on a $1 million dollar bond. She is under suicide watch after trying to take her own life by cutting her wrists.

Tracy Latimer The similarities between the McCarron case and the attempted murder of Lexus Fuller are hard to ignore. Not only do the two families live near each other, but the facts of how each mother reacted are very similar.

Thanks to some heavy hitting advocacy on the part of Not Dead Yet, coverage of the Waremburg case has been handled with a little more professionalism, but the media still is keen to point out that Lexus Fuller has CP.

One can't help but wonder if the two cases are somehow related - did Karen McCarron's alleged murder of her three year old daughter cause Kellie Waremburg to think it was ok to kill her daughter too? Not Dead Yet Research Analyst Steven Drake thinks so.

Drake says the trend that follows a highly publicized case of parents taking the life of a child with a disability has been best documented in Canada.

In October of 1993 Saskatchewan farmer Robert Latimer killed his 12 year old daughter Tracy by placing her in the cab of his pick up truck and piping the exhaust in. Tracy had cerebral palsy.

A year later a jury found Latimer guilty of second-degree murder which carried a mandatory life sentence with eligibility for parole in 10 years. Although he was found guilty, the Canadian public's reaction was very much in favor of Latimer's choice to kill his daughter.

The Toronto-based group Dying With Dignity went so far as to tell the New York Times in a 1994 article that Latimer's 10 year prison sentence was "quite unconscionable," considering the fact that the Latimer's had already served a sentence during the 12 years their daughter Tracy was alive.

The Latimer case has also led to heavy debate regarding the criminalization of euthanasia in Canada. Drake reports that a Statute of Compassionate Homicide has been considered there for years and that the Latimer case likely sparked that debate.

In the November 2001 edition of Health Ethics Today, Dick Sobsey's article "Altruistic Filicide: Bioethics or Criminology?" outlines what impact the "widespread social endorsement of the killing of Tracy Latimer," has had on the Canadian public.

Sobsey suggests that the "widespread social perception that 'altruistic homicides' like the killing of Tracy Latimer, are the acts of heroic and loving parents who deserve praise rather than punishment can be expected to encourage more parents to kill their children."

Sobsey's research also sheds light on what it is exactly that causes a parent to kill a child - it has very little to do with "mercy killing." In fact, FBI profilers and criminologists agree that "the deeper motivation for mercy killing to be a pathological need for 'power and control.'"

He goes on to conclude that, "the social endorsement of mercy killing therefore acts as a disinhibiting factor to those who may have instrumental motivations, but might otherwise be restrained by inhibition."

Charles-Antoine Blais The Tracey Latimer murder had a much greater effect on the beliefs of the Canadian public and legal system than most of us could have ever imagined. The murder of Charles-Antoine Blais, a person with autism, three years after the Latimer killing is a profound example.

Danielle Blais, 44, drown her son to death in a bathtub, a crime she was convicted of on July 2, 1997. But unlike Robert Latimer, Danielle Blais didn't serve a single day of jail time. Instead, her manslaughter conviction required only a 23-month suspended sentence to be served in a Montreal halfway house.

In addition to the complete lack of punishment for murdering her son, Blais was hired by the Autism Society of Greater Montreal to do fundraising.

This bears repeating in case our readers missed any of that: Danielle Blais murders her son by drowning him in a bathtub, she is convicted, but instead of punishment she isn't sentenced to any jail time and the Autism Society of Greater Montreal puts her on the payroll.

Overall, homicide rates in Canada dropped to a 30-year low in 2001, but there was a sharp increase in the number of parents killing their children. The Royal Mounted Police reported that between 1994 and 1998 the overall homicide rate in Canada dropped by 14.5%, but there was a 54.3% increase in the number of homicides that include parents killing their children.

Dangerous Times These are truly dangerous times for children with disabilities. The information and statistical data from the Canada is alarming, and advocates in the United States have to act fast. Allowing the media to treat parents who kill their children with disabilities any differently than any other murderer is simply not acceptable!

Things you can do to help: 1) Visit Not Dead Yet's website http://www.notdeadyet.org for all of the latest information and breaking news. In particular, be sure to visit their Press Releases section http://www.notdeadyet.org/docs/press.html .

2) Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and tell them how sick the term "mercy killing" makes you and that it is never okay to kill a child.

3) Keep talking about this to everyone you know - never EVER forget Katie McCarron, Lexus Fuller, Tracy Latimer, Charles-Antoine Blais and the many others who have fallen prey to the cultural belief that their lives are not worth living. Their parents are not martyrs, they are murders.

Special thanks to Stephen Drake of Not Dead Yet and Valerie Brew-Parrish for their expert assistance in researching this article.



By: Dr. Sheila T. Romano - Director of the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities

People in and around Morton and Peoria are struggling to make sense of the death of 3-year-old Katherine McCarron. Across the nation the developmental disabilities community is struggling, too. Like people in central Illinois, some are angry, some are confused, and all are saddened.

But in Peoria, Morton and communities nearby, there are those rationalizing little Katie McCarron's death against the challenges of raising a child with a developmental disability called autism. They might just be saying out loud or in their minds that a mom is justified in killing her child, either because they think they can't appreciate her plight or they actually think they can - and that it must be horrific.

This kind of thinking is dangerous and can send us down a slippery slope. As a matter of principle, our society does not - cannot - permit a mother or father killing their own child. If we start, where do we draw the line? Who decides which disabilities grant a mother the right to kill her child? The line could constantly shift.

If autism is OK, then is deafness? What about sex, race or religious affiliation? This is the same thinking that in the past has OK'd discrimination, institutionalization, segregation and even genocide. The history books are filled with examples of groups of people who at some time fell outside the line of protection provided by someone's fuzzy definition of "normal."

Every day, I meet people with developmental disabilities. They live in communities, keep apartments, have jobs to pay the rent, take part in their local communities, and lead what almost any of us would consider normal lives. They count among them people with developmental disabilities like Stephen Hawkins, Sir Isaac Newton and even one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence who, because of his disability, said as he signed, "My hand may shake, but my heart does not." Most of us would not have thought it possible for them to succeed with their various disabilities. There are some in the community of developmental disabilities who think the system failed Katie McCarron by not providing enough services and family support. Family supports are key, but they can't cure the parent or the problem.

University of Alberta professor Dr. Dick Sobsey's research found that parents who end the life of a child share the same characteristics, regardless of whether the child has a disability. Often they suffer from depression, anxiety and high stress. Sobsey says parents who cry out for services to prevent more deaths are essentially holding their own children hostage, when it must be the parents who hold their children's lives precious above all else.

Yes, parents of children with developmental disabilities need help, support and compassion. But none should be held to a lesser standard.

It's a sad irony that Katie was killed around the time another Illinois doctor, Edward Van Dyck, threw his son off the balcony of a Miami hotel. Might compassion and understanding for Katie's mom actually permit other parents, like Edward Van Dyck, to do the same to their kids . . . for their own reasons, of course?

In Illinois, the Land of Lincoln, there has never been a better time to remember what we stand for as a state - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans. All Americans are created equal.

If we are going to start being compassionate to parents who kill their kids, let's be compassionate to all of them. But if we are going to say it's not OK for parents to take the life of their children, than let's be consistent and stop pretending that killing children with disabilities is any different than killing any other child. This is the only moral, ethical, medical, psychological, legal or legislative view that can be taken.

By drawing a distinct line that any murder is unacceptable, we can end the cycle of silent acceptance of these tragedies and hopefully help other parents of children with developmental disabilities see that the disability is just part of a child's individuality - and individuality, even if in the form of a challenging disability, should be celebrated, never snuffed out.





The Chicago Board of Education voted June 28th to approve a $5.3 billion dollar budget. The new budget cut $26 million from the district's special education program including 200 teachers and 750 classroom aids who primarily work with students who have autism, deafness or other physical and emotional disabilities.

Chicago disability rights advocates fought hard to convince the Board to consider other alternatives, but the special education cuts were still implemented. In a June 29th Associated Press article, one advocate was quoted as saying, "It is totally inappropriate for CPS to be balancing its budget on the backs of special education students."

In addition to the special education cuts, several dozen jobs were cut from the school district's central office and the Board voted to increase property taxes to the maximum amount allowable by law.

Chicago Public Schools, commonly abbreviated CPS, is the third largest school district in the United States consisting of over 600 public elementary and high schools and more than 400,000 students.





On June 16th the National Federation of Independent Business' (NFIB) Legal Foundation filed an amicus brief with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in hopes of stopping what it has labeled as "drive-by" ADA lawsuits. The NFIB hopes to persuade the court that "serial claimants" are abusing the ADA and harming small businesses through the excessive filing of accessibility related law suits.

The term "drive-by" is applied to suits where the defendant has not been contacted by the plaintiff prior to the filing.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is currently hearing the case of Molski v. Mandarin Touch Restaurant, a case that could have an impact on how plaintiffs are able to file suit under the ADA in the future. Mandarin Touch, a Solvang, California based restaurant, is seeking to have Jarek Molski declared a "vexatious litigant" by the court and are challenging whether he has any right to bring suit.

Mandarin Touch chose to fight Molski's suit that claimed he injured his hand while using the restaurant's bathroom, after learning he filed 13 other such suits against businesses he visited during a four day period in May of 2003. All of the suits have identical claims of injury.

Molski's history of filing drive-by ADA lawsuits has been criticized by both small business owners as well as disability rights advocates. The Americans with Disabilities Act allows plaintiffs to collect attorney fees as part of any settlement found in their favor.

American Association of People with Disabilities President Andrew Imparato told a Las Vegas business journal, "There are these individuals and boutique law firms that make a business out of filing 75 claims at a time and it leads to a strong backlash against the ADA and it can do harm to the cause of increasing access for those with disabilities. The point of this law is not to shake-down businesses and make money off them. The point is to improve accessibility."

Another issue that appears to be figuring prominently in whether Molski has standing to file suits such as the one against Mandarin Touch, is where he lives. Molski resides over 100 miles away from the restaurant and has visited it only once.



By: Valerie Brew-Parrish, M.S

Stepping on a scale gives every one a sense of dread. Still, it is essential that all of us know our exact weight. Doctors use our weight to calculate the dosage of medicine that we require. Pediatricians have scales for infants. Hospitals have specially designed beds to weigh the morbidly obese. Even veterinarians have special scales for our pets.

Shamefully, medical centers and doctors offices rarely have scales or other needed medical equipment to accommodate people with disabilities. By not having these accommodations, they are breaking the law.

Not too long ago, I received an e-mail that asked the following question: "Could you provide me with the name of a doctor who deals with persons who use wheelchairs. My sister-in-law cannot get up on the exam tables. She is unable to stand or walk. Of course this means she is unable to have a mammogram. I would appreciate any help you can give. . ."

I always try my best to give the most helpful information. I responded by telling the woman to contact the Women with Disabilities Center located at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (312-238-1051).

A few months later, I received an e-mail from a concerned son who wanted to know whether hospitals had to provide interpreter services to his Deaf mother. Of course, the answer is yes. I supplied the son with the exact part of the Americans with Disabilities Act that covered health care.

These two similar requests for information really got me thinking. I felt I did an excellent job regarding my response regarding interpreter services. Al-though the Rehab Institute of Chicago has an excellent program, no one from the southwest suburbs should have to travel 50 miles for an accessible scale or exam table.

Ignorance of the law is a lame excuse. To set this matter straight, here are the facts: people with disabilities have the right to useable medical equipment such as scales, lowered exam tables, accessible mammography machines and eye examination equipment (ADA 42 U.S.C.). A sign language interpreter must be provided free of charge to facilitate effective communication. Support animals can accompany their owners in medical facilities except for operating rooms. Personal care aides are allowed to assist the person with a disability during a medical test. Printed materials utilized by the medical center, such as instructions to follow before medical tests, follow up care, and release of information, etc. must be available in alternate formats including large print, cassette, and Braille.

The Disability Rights Advocates located in California, estimates that 95% of blind persons are not receiving medical history forms in alternate formats. Regrettably, people with disabilities are three times more likely than nondisabled folks to forego needed health care.

A hospital in Washington DC and a radiology group in California have both been sued under the ADA for not providing accessible health care. Both entities are now accessible. After weighing these facts, medical facilities should measure up to the challenge and truly meet the needs of all their patients.

For more information, contact the ADA Great Lakes Center at: 800-949-4232 (V/TTY).



By: Valerie Brew-Parrish, M.S.

This may be the most important column I have ever written. I wish I was blessed with the writing skills of the world's best journalists because the message is so crucial. Here is the direct scoop.

People with disabilities have the right to live. The term "mercy killing" is an oxymoron. The disability press is in an uproar over the recent murder of Katie McCarron, the three year old girl with autism who had a garbage bag put over her head to snuff out her life allegedly by her own mother.

Most of the media covering this horrendous story is focusing on the toll autism has on families. Their spin is that raising a kid with a disability is an overwhelming burden. The infamous Dr. Peter Singer, bioethicist from Princeton University, advocates infanticide when a mother gives birth to an infant with a disability. He believes animals have more rights than people with disabilities.

Like Charles Dickens who coined the word scrooge, I too am adding a new word to our vocabulary. The word is, disabledocide, the act of killing people with disabilities.

This trend is disturbingly real. One web site ( http://www.geocities.com/growingioel/murder.html ) lists 30 children with autism who have been murdered. The list doesn't include Katie McCarron or Christopher DeGroot, the autistic 19 year old that was allegedly locked in a blazing apartment on May 14 by his parents with no chance for escape.

One newspaper lamented that Dr. Karen McCarron, Katie's mother, helped other parents with their autistic children. A mother in the same support group is quoted as saying if McCarron had not helped her, she might have killed her child!

What on earth is going on here? I am certainly glad that my parents never had notions to end my supposed misery. Most of my summers were spent at Children's Memorial Hospital. I had costly surgeries.

Thank God my husband's family didn't believe in disabledocide. When cases like these are brought to court, way too often juries do not convict the murdering parents of kids with disabilities. Yes, they are murderers. What happened to the commandment, Thou Shalt Not Kill? Society as a whole fails to understand that people with disabilities have quality of life.

When Larry King interviewed the stars of the acclaimed film Murderball he surmised that they were all in favor of stem cell research. The quad rugby players were then asked if a magic pill could be given to them that would eliminate their wheelchairs and allow them to walk would they take it? The answer was a resounding no!

My daughter was asked recently what she would wish for. Her replies startled her friend who chastised her by saying, your Mom has paralyzed arms, your dad is blind, and your son is autistic. Don't you wish they were normal? My Tara sees all three of us as normal. We are not broken and do not need to be fixed. We need to celebrate people just as they are.





Many of you may already be familiar with Josh Blue from his appearances on Comedy Central's Mind of Mencia, and NBC's reality competition Last Comic Standing. For those of you who aren't familiar, Josh Blue is one to watch! Blue is going where no comic has gone before with his no-pity approach to disability humor. If you think there isn't anything funny about disability, then you haven't seen Josh Blue in action.

According to his website http://www.joshblue.com, Blue puts the cerebral in cerebral palsy. This Paralympics soccer athlete has a fresh, young, and sometimes crude perspective on what makes us laugh.

You can catch him weeknights on Last Comic Standing, NBC Tuesday, 9:00 p.m. EST.





Racing legend Richard Petty helped launch a new program called SpeedyTags to benefit Paralyzed Veterans of America.

Uniquely designed for NASCAR fans, SpeedyTags are dog tags imprinted with the name and likeness of some of the sport’s top competitors. Approximately 75,000 SpeedyTags will be distributed free at three Nextel Cup Series races, beginning with the Sharpie 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway on August 26, the Dover 400 at the Dover International Speedway on September 24, and the Bass Pro Shops/MBNA 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway on October 29.

SpeedyTag holders go online at www.SpeedyTags.org, type in their unique tag number, and receive $5 off special Petty and PVA merchandise that has been designed specifically for this campaign. NASCAR fans who can not attend one of the races can get SpeedyTags at the Web site and receive the $5 discount on the commemorative merchandise. Anyone making a purchase also will be eligible to win a trip to the season-ending Ford 400 championship race at Homestead-Miami Speed-way, where the contest winner will meet the NASCAR stars.





DEERFIELD, Ill. (July 7, 2006) – Walgreen’s, the nation's largest drugstore chain, has launched an innovative initiative to hire people with disabilities at its new distribution center in Anderson, S.C. and is recruiting through a new, specially-designed Website. Walgreensoutreach.com describes jobs available at the Walgreen’s distribution center and is designed to be accessible for people with sensory, physical and cognitive disabilities.

The center has begun pre-hire training and will open in 2007. Initially, Walgreen’s will hire more than 200 employees with plans to ramp up to more than 600 employees.

Walgreens' goal is to have at least one-third of the workforce consist of employees with a variety of disabilities working in a fully-integrated team.



By Jessica Hayes, Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator

The Telework Low Interest Loan Program is a statewide grant project of the Illinois Assistive Technology Program (IATP). Funded primarily through a grant from the United States Department of Education, Telework also receives funding through a matching grant program. Illinois matches every nine federal dollars with one from the state.

The Telework program is based out of IATP's state office in Springfield, where Telework Loan Coordinator Eric Guidish has helped to implement the program for the past two and half years.

"Telework is a good fit with IATP's mission, because one of the important issues for people with disabilities is employment," said IATP's Loan Program Coordinator Sue Castles.

Castles over sees all of IATP's consumer loan programs and worked closely with Guidish to develop the Telework program.

"Being able to work from home with the appropriate assistive technology and any other equipment they might need is sometimes what is needed to make employment possible," said Castles.

Guidish explains Telework as a low interest cash entitlement loan program that allows people with disabilities to purchase almost anything that would allow them to work from home. Guidish is quick to point out that loan recipients don't have to work exclusively out of their homes. In fact, several recipients have used Telework loans to purchase vehicles, one of which was a semi truck.

"The focus of the Telework program isn't solely on an individual's credit," said Guidish in discussing the differences between Telework and a conventional bank loan. Credit issues related an applicant's disability or medical expenses are frequently not an issue during the Telework loan process.

Another big difference is the low 3.5% interest rate. Telework has partnered with Security Bank to ensure their loans are affordable with the lowest possible interest rates and extended terms of repayment.

"We usually try to make sure the term doesn't exceed the life of what the loan is for," explained Guidish. "But we have allowed recipients up to 10 years on auto loans."

To date, seven recipients have received Telework loans, and Guidish said IATP is focusing on publicity to help increase that number.

To learn more about the Illinois Assistive Technology Program's Telework Loan Program, contact:
Eric Guidish
Telework Loan Coordinator
1 West Old State
Capitol Plaza
Springfield, IL 62701
(800) 852-5110 (V/TTY)





WASHINGTON - Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao this week announced that "Americans with Disabilities: Ready for the Global Workforce" will be the official theme for October's National Disability Employment Awareness Month, which is celebrated nationwide.

"The 2006 theme - "Americans with Disabilities: Ready for the Global Workforce" - highlights the fact that workers with disabilities are an underutilized and ambitious group of Americans eager to pursue their career dreams," said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. "This theme echoes the President’s New Freedom Initiative which has been out in front in recognizing the need to promote greater job opportunities for workers with disabilities."

The private sector; federal, state and local governments; and advocacy organizations can now use the theme to plan events and programs that showcase the abilities and skills of employees and job candidates who have disabilities.

"This year’s theme reflects the fact that increasing the opportunities for Americans with disabilities in the workforce can produce far-reaching, positive results for employers," said Roy Grizzard, assistant secretary of labor for the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP).





Congratulations to our quarterly Membership Recruitment Contest winners for the months of April, May and June. This quarter's top recruiting stars are both Regional Directors.

1st Place goes to Region 4 Director Donna Giles who recruited 10 individual annual members and one individual lifetime member.

In second place is Region 11 Director Deannine Cook who recruited two individual annual members and two organizational annual members.

Don't forget, Quarter Recruitment Contest winners receive one free conference registration. Keep up the great work!



By Jessica Hayes, Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator

Amber Sexton is a woman on a mission.

She is determined to help education children about disability awareness, and bring attention to child safety issues regarding backseat passengers in cars. Her dedication to these issues are just a couple of the reasons she was voted Ms. Wheelchair Illinois in March of this year.

Sexton, originally from Oklahoma, moved to Illinois two years ago.

"I was living in Oklahoma when I first heard about the Ms. Wheelchair pageant," said Sexton. "But I was in college then and didn't think I had the time."

Shortly after making the move to Montgomery, IL, Sexton was volunteering at Marion Joy Rehab Center when she once again heard about the Ms. Wheelchair Pageant.

"It was my first day at Marion Joy when a press release about the Illinois pageant arrived," said Sexton. "I thought, this must be something I'm meant to do."

Sexton competed at the Tinley Park Ms. Wheelchair Illinois Pageant on March 24-25, 2006. She only competed against one other contestant, but she said the experience was wonderful.

"When most people hear the word pageant, they automatically think it's a beauty contest," said Sexton. "It most definitely is not that."

Ms. Wheelchair contestants are judged in several categories including: achievements since onset of disability; communication and public speaking skills; and advocacy and motivation.

All contestants must be wheelchair users 100% of the time. Sexton has used a wheelchair since 1996. She was paralyzed at the age of 15 after a car accident, and now has an L1 spinal cord injury.

2006 has been a hectic year for Sexton, in April she was married to husband James, she was crowned Ms, Wheelchair Illinois, she is currently working toward a job as a teacher's aid and is gearing up for a trip to Little Rock Arkansas where she will compete in the Ms. Wheelchair USA pageant.

Ms. Wheelchair USA Fundraiser Ms. Wheelchair Illinois Amber Sexton is raising money for her August 1-5, 2006 trip to the Ms Wheelchair USA Pageant in Little Rock, Arkansas. Sexton's costs will include a $1500.00 registration fee, travel expenses and other supplies needed for the contest. If you are interested in supporting Ms. Wheelchair Illinois as she makes her bid for the national title, please send donations to the following:
MWI Amber Sexton
1329 Walnut Ridge
Montgomery, IL 60538

Interested in scheduling Ms. Wheelchair Illinois for an appearance at your event? E-mail Amber Sexton at ambercling@yahoo.com .