10-year-old disabled boy left on bus for four hours

by Randy Escamilla from Fox 29 San Antonio:

PLEASANTON, Texas -- Pleasanton Independent School District officials scrambled Tuesday to find out how a 10-year old disabled 4th grader with Down's syndrome was left behind on a school bus for four hours in 43-degree weather.

The incident happened Monday. According to the grandmother of Ethan Ramos, 10, a maintenance worker cleaning the bus found the boy.

Ethan suffers from numerous disabilities including Down's syndrome, sleep apnea, heart disease, and asthma.

"He could have died. Simple as that," said Ethan's grandmother Anna Lisa Alvarez.

Alun Rees had 'worst' pressure sores, Wrexham inquest hears

from the BBC News:

A man with Down's Syndrome had the worst pressure sores some medical staff had ever seen when he was admitted to hospital, an inquest has heard.

Alun Rees died from multiple organ failure due to an overwhelming sepsis infection a month after being taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital in August 2011.
The 54-year-old had been cared for by his sister at their home in Brymbo since 1993.
The hearing in Ruthin was told the house was "not fit to live in".
Home Office pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers said it was his view that the sores had been present on Mr Rees's body for a period of time.
"They could have been there for weeks" he said, adding that some medical staff had documented that they were "some of the worst they'd ever seen".
'Shocked'
Ambulance technician Douglas Green, who attended the home of Mr Rees and his sister, Brenda Griffiths, on the day he was admitted to hospital, told the hearing it was "not fit to live in".
He described it as cluttered with an "overwhelming smell" which he agreed was probably because of a "lack of hygiene and ventilation".
He told the hearing Mr Rees's sister had called the ambulance because her brother's breathing had changed, he was pale, weak and lethargic.

Disabled woman locked up for 10 years rescued

from the Rakyat Post:

TUMPAT, June 27:

A woman with Down’s Syndrome, who was caged under a small and dark space under the family house in Kampung Pasir Pekan Hulu here for more than 10 years, was rescued by the police and the Social Welfare Department today.

Tumpat police chief Supt Zaharuddin Rasip said the woman, in her 30s, was rescued by authorities after being alerted by the Tumpat People’s Action Council and local press this afternoon.

He said the woman was believed to have been locked up by family members after her parents died.

The barn-sized enclosure had a small bed and the floor was covered with the woman’s faeces and urine.

He said the woman was looked after by her brother who lived nearby.

Zaharuddin said the police and Welfare Department would be investigating the matter, adding that the woman had been sent to the Tumpat district hospital for treatment.

Mother of child with Down syndrome had taken, rejected help for child abandoned

wave3.com-Louisville News, Weather

by Gordon Boyd Wave 3 News:
LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Help was available to a Louisville mother accused of abandoning her 6-year-old daughter with Down's Syndrome. In fact, she and the little girl used the aid, but apparently, the mother stopped once the little girl was too old to attend the infants-and-toddlers program.
The 6-year-old girl, whom Louisville Metro police said was abandoned by her mother days ago, had gotten help from the advocacy group Down's Syndrome of Louisville for the first three years of her life.
"She and her mother had completed our First Steps program," executive director Diana Merzweiler said. "But to get help beyond that, you have to ask for it. The mother did not come back."
"It really makes me angry because I could never imagine leaving my children, especially one with a disability, by herself," the girl's neighbor, Anna Johnson, said Tuesday.
Johnson discovered the girl covered in her own waste when she walked through her neighbor's open door Monday.
"She gave me a big hug and I was like, ‘where's Mommy?'" Johnson said. "I took her upstairs and called 911. It was pretty bad."
"The calls that have come into our office, from our fellow parents," Merzweiler said. "They're saying ‘Oh, what do they need? How can we help?'"

Couple accused of neglecting daughter with Down syndrome

from WHAS11.com:
CARROLLTON, Ky. -- A Carroll County, Ky. couple was arrested Wednesday afternoon on allegations they neglected their daughter who has Down Syndrome.
Police said an investigation showed that the victim’s father, Billy Ray Mertz, 46, and step-mother, Robin Mertz, 34, allegedly kept their 23-year-old daughter in an upstairs bathroom for weeks at a time.
The victim was also kept in a basement bedroom that was closed off using boards that were screwed into the wall to keep the door from opening.

During the investigation, police said they learned that the victim was deprived of food while she was locked in the rooms.  She reported weighed approximately 189 pounds when she first came to live with the Mertz family in 2009 and weighed only 86 pounds when she was removed from the home, police said.
The victim is currently in foster care with Adult Protective Services, but family members are questioning the validity of the story from police.

Mom, daughters charged with starving family member with Down syndrome to death

by Joseph Kohut from the Scranton Times Tribune:
For two years, Robert Gensiak's world was his bedroom.
It was there, his family kept him from doctors, even when his skin cracked and bled and open sores formed from being forced to stay in his child-sized bed covered in feces.
And it was there, the 32-year-old Taylor man with Down syndrome wasted away to 69 pounds because his mother and sisters were starving him to death.
On Wednesday, about three months after Mr. Gensiak died, police charged his mother, Susan Gensiak, 59, of 12 Williams St., and two sisters, Joan, 35, and Rebekah, 24, with murder.
Read the complaint HERE
"This is the worst case of neglect I've seen the last 26 years," said Lackawanna County District Attorney Andy Jarbola at a press conference Wednesday. "This family, the mother and two sisters, basically let this young man rot to death."
Mr. Gensiak had been weakening and could not walk without assistance by the time the family called an ambulance on March 19 at the urging of his doctor, Paul Remick, D.O., whom they had not taken Mr. Gensiak to visit for two years. Mr. Gensiak was taken to Regional Hospital where doctors said he had severe psoriasis associated with hypothermia. His body temperature was only 92 degrees.
He died March 20, and weighed just 69 pounds, police said.

Make World Down Syndrome Day a Day of Action

by Jen Logan of Down Wit Dat:

Thursday (3/21) is World Down Syndrome Day.  It is a day of celebration and of recognition.  It is also a day of global awareness.

Honestly, I've about had it with awareness.  I'm done, finished.  Most people are aware of Down syndrome by now.  They may not know exactly what is involved and may be very prejudicial as they base their opinions on outdated and incorrect information.  But, they know it exists.  Instead of having yet another day of awareness, I'd like to make World Down Syndrome Day one of remembrance and action.

Several things have weighed on me in the last little while.  The first is a doll, made by a mother of a 13 year old girl with Down syndrome.  They are called "Dolls for Downs" [spelled incorrectly].  The idea here is that "every child wants a doll that looks like themselves." 

I don't agree and furthermore, I am uncomfortable with these dolls in principle.

Firstly, I dislike anything that has the potential to perpetuate the stereotype that all people with Down syndrome look the same.  They don't.  My son looks like the rest of my kids;  an amalgam of mine and my husband's family.  He does not look like these dolls any more than any other child with DS that I know personally.  I find the description of "pudgy features" in the video to be extremely offensive.

Additionally, like the bald barbie debate for pediatric cancer patients, I'm going to take the stance that my son does not need this doll.  He does not need another feel good, "isn't that cute!", soft focus awareness campaign (which is what this doll will surely turn into).  He needs a medical profession who gives a damn.  He needs a society that is tolerant and accepting of neurodiversity. He needs an education system that will not decide his future based on bureaucracy and preconceived notions.  He does not need a doll whose proceeds line a private pocket, like most "awareness" paraphernalia does.

man with Down syndrome left on Bus

from NBC Chicago by Lauren Jiggetts:

A mother was demanding answers Friday, claiming the driver of a service bus left her son alone on a cold bus for roughly eight hours.

Greg Dunkin, who has Down syndrome, wasn't discovered until passengers boarded the bus to go home at the end of the day. The 33-year-old was still wearing his seat belt.

Dunkin has been transported by bus to the Sertoma Centre, an Alsip facility that provides support services for adults with disabilities, for more than five years. He got picked up Friday but never made it through the front doors of the building.

Yolanda Dunkin, a nurse, rushed to the facility when she got a call from staff alerting her to what happened.

"He didn't have anything to eat. He couldn't go to the bathroom. He was just strapped in one seat in the back, just sitting there," she said.

To make matters worse, Dunkin said it's not the first time her son has been left behind. A similar situation happened two years ago, she said.

"They put rules into place and they said it wouldn't happen again. They are supposed to call me if he doesn't show up. I never got a phone call to say he wasn't there," 

With this second incident, the mother said she plans to look for another care facility for her son.

"You have disabled adults that are being left on the van, in the cold, and they are getting away with it. This has happened too many times with him," she said.

Dunkin said the center told her the driver who left her son behind on Friday would be disciplined. She's also filed a police report, and Alsip police said the case is under investigation.

Attempts to reach staff at the Sertoma Centre were unsuccessful Friday.

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/alsip-down-syndrome-man-service-bus-185120501.html#ixzz2H2IgkwI1