Disability²

This evening I got good news from Marsha Katz in Montana.

Three years ago Livingston, Montana social services decided decided that Geri Glass, a woman with quadriplegia, would neglect her newborn son, Gage, if he was permitted to remain in her care, based solely on their perceptions of her disability. Social services mandated that Ms. Glass never be alone with her son until he was over the age of 12, and that she create a safety plan for his care from infancy through adulthood. They demanded a 24/7/18 year plan to “ensure Gage’s safety.” During one meeting, social services explored placing Glass and Gage into a nursing home, without her consent, and tried to force Glass to give her son up for adoption. Social services told Glass that she was required to have 24/7 attendant care to assist with Gage until he was 12 years old, or she could assign guardianship of Gage to someone else for 12 years.  Glass moved in to her aunt’s inaccessible home, to keep her son with her, and fought to be able to return to her own, accessible home, where she could care for Gage with attendant care.

Despite their threats, social services never filed a court case, which meant that Glass had no way to seek review of social services’ actions.  Glass prepared to fight social services, and the media got involved.  In the face of negative publicity,  social services closed their file on Glass. Glass filed an ADA complaint with a state agency, and last week received a ruling in her favor, finding that the state of Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services (”DPHHS” discriminated on the basis of disability, and that the DPHHS retaliated against Glass for attempting to advocate for herself. The remedial phase of her case continues.

A pdf. version of the decision is posted on the disabilitypride.com site.

Massaro v. Massaro, 2006 WL 350065 (N.J.Super.A.D.) (February 17, 2006)(unpublished).

The New Jersey Appellate court affirmed a lower court ruling refusing to order a non-custodial father with a psychiatric disability to turn over his medical records. The mother argued: (more…)