Warning: Offsite links are not safe spaces. Articles and comments in the links may contain ableist, sexist, and other -ist language and ideas of varying intensity. Opinions expressed in the articles may not reflect the opinions held by the compiler of the post. I attempt to provide extra warnings for material like extreme violence/rape; however, your triggers/issues may vary, so please read with care.

frida writes: Valentine’s Day: Sex and Disability 2 [warning: discusses sexual abuse]

Here’s what I want: a movement from a culture of abuse and denial of our rights to sexual autonomy.

The Age: Bible bashing the homeless, Abbott style [This man wants to be our P.M. Seriously. ~L]

I was in Canberra last week and had the opportunity to ask Opposition Leader Tony Abbott whether a government under his direction would continue with the Rudd government’s goal of halving homelessness by 2020. His answer was no.

In justifying his stance, Abbott quoted from the Gospel of Matthew: ”The poor will always be with us,” he said, and referred to the fact there is little a government can do for people who choose to be homeless.

WA Today: Fine print hides risk of genetic test offer

Insurer NIB has begun offering its customers cut-price personalised genetic tests – which could expose them to higher premiums or even leave them unable to get life insurance or insurance payouts.

But the company says it has no ulterior motive and only wants to help its members manage their health. […]

Under the official “Genetic Testing Policy” of the Investment and Financial Services Association of Australia, life insurance companies can demand that a prospective customer hand over the results of any genetic test they have had done.

Vindy.com: Police trained to deal with disabilities

Township law enforcement is becoming more attuned to interacting with residents with a physical or mental disability.[…] “The major thing that can happen is the officer doesn’t realize the disability right away,” he said. “The officer will react on what he perceives is happening instead of what is actually happening.” […]

[Patrolman Tom Collins] said one thing officers should realize is that, like someone who raises his or her voice when worked up, a deaf person’s hand signals become more exaggerated. “Officers shouldn’t take that as a sign of aggression,” he said. […]

Kloss said no matter the severity of the disorder, those with autism usually have a set way of doing things. He said officers need to be aware of what could force an autistic person out of his or her comfort zone.

The Canadian Press: HEALTHBEAT: Drugs tested to improve learning in Fragile X syndrome, may give autism hints

Now a handful of drug makers are working to develop the first treatment for Fragile X, spurred by brain research that is making specialists rethink how they approach developmental disorders. “We are moving into a new age of reversing intellectual disabilities,” predicts Dr. Randi Hagerman, who directs the MIND Institute at the University of California, Davis, a study site. […] The experimental drugs have an unwieldy name – mGluR5 antagonists.

Media dis&dat: California law will clarify information about administering insulin to school-age students with diabetes

“This law will effectively address the dangerous situations currently faced daily by California’s school children with diabetes,” said Dwight Holing, Secretary?Treasurer Elect of the American Diabetes Association. “If passed, this legislation will clarify existing law and help children with diabetes in California public schools to get the care they need and are entitled to under federal and state laws.”

“Depriving these children and their parents of an effective solution to this critical health issue is a civil rights problem that can best be solved by the legislators of this state,” said James Wood of Reed Smith, LLP, pro bono counsel for the American Diabetes Association.

New York Times: Study Suggests More Veterans May Be Helped by Talking About Killing

Mental health experts said the new study confirmed findings from research on Vietnam veterans and did not break much new ground. But they said it underscored that treating stress disorder among veterans is often very different from treating it in people who, say, have been raped or have been in car accidents.

“People don’t understand the moral ambiguity of combat and why it is so hard to get over it,” said Rachel Yehuda, a professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. “What makes combat veterans ill is not always about being a victim, but, in some instances, feeling very much both a perpetrator and a victim at the same time.”