Framing disability only as economic burden fuels hate

By Louise Kinross An editorial in Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper Saturday suggests that the massacre of 19 disabled adults in a Tokyo care home one month ago was not “an extraordinary case.”Instead, the authors say, the killings by a former home employee reflect a culture that equates human value with economic productivity. “Eugenic ideology may have been deleted from official statements, but it may have yet to be wiped away from people’s...

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Vogue's Paralympics ad fail

By Louise Kinross Oh dear. I saw a tweet yesterday about how Vogue Brazil had photoshopped an amputated arm and a prosthetic leg from two Brazilian Paralympians onto fashion models as part of an ad campaign to combat low ticket sales for the Paralympics in Rio. This struck me as bizarre and offensive. Can you imagine an ad for Olympic athletes that features fashion model stand-ins? What, on earth, does being an elite athlete have to do with...

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Best source of rehab ideas? Parents, says research head

By Louise Kinross Biomedical engineer Tom Chau came to Holland Bloorview the same year I did—in 1999. Tom trained computer chips to empower children who can’t speak or move in conventional ways. His devices interpreted a child’s hums, eye blinks or physiological signals and turned them into words, a mouse click or even music. For several years I had the privilege of promoting media stories about his work. In 2012 Tom took over as head of the...

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Why child disability research belongs in mainstream journals

By Louise Kinross Children with disabilities are two to three times more likely to have obesity than their peers.Yet when Holland Bloorview scientist Amy McPherson looked at a systematic review of studies about obesity prevention in kids, most excluded those with disabilities.“If you’re testing a new way to get kids active, you may shy away from recruiting kids who physically struggle because that will affect the data,” Amy says. “It...

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'Without disability I don't know if I'd have discovered my sport'

By Louise Kinross Erica Scarff, 20, is on her way to Rio next month to race a kayak in the paracanoe event as it makes its debut at the Paralympics. BLOOM talked with Erica about how she found her passion on the water after she had an amputation at age 12 to treat cancer. BLOOM: What led up to your amputation? Erica Scarff: I was running at gymnastics and my leg broke. I found out I had cancer and the only way to get rid of the tumour was...

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'It was the greatest gig ever:' Bloorview teacher Shelley Neal

By Louise Kinross After 32 years as a teacher-librarian, Shelley Neal’s life has come first circle. “When I was a little girl in public school I remember being in Mrs. Harper’s library and reaching for a book on the shelf called Mine for Keeps,” Shelley says. “It’s about a beautiful young girl with cerebral palsy and it made me dream of being a special-education teacher.”After seven years teaching at the Bloorview School authority, Shelley...

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A therapist harnesses the power of play

By Louise Kinross Salma Kassam landed her first job as an occupational therapist at Holland Bloorview 22 years ago and has been here ever since. She works with inpatient children who have brain injuries sustained through trauma or serious illness. BLOOM: Why did you get into occupational therapy in children’s rehab?Salma Kassam: When I was a student I was one of the lucky few who had several placements at Bloorview. I did community...

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When there are no medical answers

By Louise Kinross "This is not my fault." That was the key message I picked up on resilience when I read this Facebook post by Lean In author Sheryl Sandberg after her husband died suddenly and tragically last year. Adam Grant "told me to ban the word 'sorry,'" Sheryl writes. "To tell myself over and over, This is not my fault."  I was trying to apply it to how I felt after a visit with my son to a surgeon didn't go as I had hoped....

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A new way of teaching health students about genetic conditions

FRAME is a series of videos on children with genetic conditions and their families talking about their lives in general and from a medical standpoint.  They were developed by Positive Exposure as a way to educate health professionals on conditions like Marfan and Down syndrome in a way that promotes the beauty and humanity of the participants.  The goal is to get away from the "patient as a specimen" model of medical literature. Positive...

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Grandma gets UK retailer to adapt clothes for easy access

By Rita Kutt My grandson Caleb had a very difficult start to life, which included seizures. Last year when he turned three, his mum Zoe and I started looking for clothes to accommodate his feeding tube and nappies. Until then, we’d been able to buy clothes from the high street stores and supermarkets here in England. To my dismay, after looking in stores and online, I found nothing available for his age and size. I tried parenting websites...

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That's not a problem. It's a power!

By Megan JonesWhen acting, Jessica Thom never stays on script. In fact, she’s neurologically incapable of it: the London, U.K.-based performer has lived with Tourette syndrome for decades. Her tics cause her to experience muscles spasms and to randomly speak words thousands of times a day. Onstage, this means nothing goes quite as planned.In 2014, Jessica began performing Backstage in Biscuitland with actress Jess Mabel Jones. The play uses puppets,...

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