By JENNIFER BISHOP

A legislator’s email warning his northwest Baltimore County constituents about “staggering” levels of contamination from asbestos and other substances at the shuttered Rosewood Center, has advocates for people with disabilities incensed by the irony.

“The State’s assessment found Rosewood to be so dangerous as to recommend that no one trespass on the property,” said Cristy Marchand, executive director of the ARC of Maryland. “The real question is the response that will be made to the hundreds of children and adults with developmental disabilities whose health was threatened by toxic conditions while living for decades at Rosewood Center.”

The mass email, which describes underground storage tanks and environmental seepage at the former institution for people with disabilities, was sent out yesterday by State Senator Robert A. “Bobby” Zirkin (D-Baltimore County.) It’s based in part on a quietly-released environmental assessment from the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Read the rest of this entry »

essay and photos by JENNIFER BISHOP

Every two years, I attend a conference for people affected by my son’s genetic syndrome. Doctors and scientists participate, joining families with affected children of all ages and abilities. Some can walk and talk or use sign language, others can’t. Many suffer from seizures, heart disease, and full body skin rashes, and depend on g-tubes or wheelchairs. Almost all of them laugh or smile.

Friends ask me, “Why do you go?” Read the rest of this entry »

By JENNIFER BISHOP

      On July 6th, Tressie Shavers will sing the National Anthem for the opening ceremonies of the swimming events at the Special Olympics Maryland summer games held in Towson. After singing, she will ease into the pool and swim two races. Read the rest of this entry »

By JENNIFER BISHOP

     If it takes a village to raise a child, it must take an even larger pool of humanity to raise a child with intensive special needs. I learned that on Easter 2006 when my young son eloped.

     I don’t mean “elope” in the fun Las Vegas sense, with all the possibilities of annulling an impulsive decision. The graver meaning of “elopement,” in the developmental disabilities world, is to wander off or get lost. Read the rest of this entry »

BY JENNIFER BISHOP

    Larissa Creed stopped breathing when she was two months old. Due to a lack of oxygen to her brain, she has cerebral palsy, is cortically blind and nonverbal, and relies on others for feeding, diapering, and positioning in her wheelchair. Recently, I watched her parents take the 24-year-old outside for a walk, and the degree of effort and devotion in that single act is hard to convey in words.

     An alcohol tax bill that could help 18,000 Marylanders with disabilities, including adults like Larissa, get needed services, is being fought by the powerful liquor lobby, as the Sun reports. Weigh their argument against this glimpse of what Diane and Donald Creed’s lives have been like for 24 years. Read the rest of this entry »