When Lennie Gallant visited Afghanistan on an troop entertainment tour, he was moved by the courage and the danger our troops faced.

He also came face to face with the men and women who return from Afghanistan with visual and hidden wounds from war.

In honor of these veterans with disabilities, Gallant along with J.T. Harding  wrote Wounded.

Gallant captures the real lives of our veterans in his touching song, which is his forte.

Filmed in July 2009 at the Harmony House in Hunter River, PEI during Rendezvous Rustico.

You can hear the studio version of Wounded on Lennie’s Reverbnation site along with the lyrics.  For more about Lennie Gallant see his official website.

Lennie Gallant on NJN Network

Lennie Gallant nouvel album – Le cœur hanté

Lennie Gallant relaxed and happy hosting Hunter River Songwriter’s Circle

If We Had A Fire, Lennie Gallant

Lennie Gallant, the Island’s singing storyteller

In June a woman with a disability was pushed to the street in Vancouver by a police officer. He walked away without helping her up.

While the Vancouver police department claims the incident was under investigation, the officers are still on the beat.  We expect some official response that exonerates the officers will appear many months from now.

It’s clear from the video the woman has a disability. She has Cerebral Palsy (CP) which gives her a distinct walking pattern and affects her speech. She may sound intoxicated however anyone who has experience with CP can easily spot the symptoms.

This is not the first incident of police brutality nor is the it the first time an adult with CP has been abused.  Physical and passive aggressive abuse is a way of life for many people with disabilities.

Cute as children abused as adults

Children with cerebral palsy and down syndrome are the favourite poster children for Easter Seals telethons and charity fund raisers. When they grow up, they become easy, adult targets for bullies and human rights abuse.

No longer cute and cuddly,  adults with disabilities are victims every day. How many people spend the time to grant a person like Sandy her dignity? How many strike up a peer conversation with a person with a disability? Sandy is a human being and besides not deserving policy brutality she deserves respect.

How many social groups invite the disabled to join? Does Rotary want people with disabilities in their membership or do they just want cute kids to raise money? Other than a few Easter Seals ambassadors who are giving the royal treatment, Rotarians are ill-at-ease having the disabled in their club. Rotary is not unique in ostracizing the disabled.

Half of all people living below the poverty line are disabled, which is the probable reason Sandy is living on Vancouver’s East Side. In the CBC National video Ian Hannimansing tries to weakly blame the disabled for their abuse by the system. “Part of the problem is where the encounter took place.”

OK, so if the disabled weren’t poor and living on the down side of town they could expect better treatment.

All Sandy has to do is get herself an $50,000 plus annual salary working in a white collar office job and the abuse will disappear. The reality is employers discriminate against Sandy and other people with disabilities and get away with it. Canadians living with disabilities are routinely discriminated against in employment, housing, and in their contact with government.

What’s worse, the cop pushes Sandy to the ground once or Canadian society that keeps her on the ground for her whole life?

Video is copyright CBC News

If you follow the Bear River Road it turns to a clay road in Saint Margarets when it intersects the Northside Road at 16. Keep on the clay Bear Shore road to a secluded, local beach where a pond empties into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Updated – I got corrected this beach is called Bear Shore or St. Margarets Beach depending on who you ask.

There is a small bank to navigate with rocks to walk on. Not the best for the disabled but it may be OK for you. Check out the video.

The water was good for both wading and swimming. There is a nice walk along the shore to the cliffs after you cross the stream. The views were spectacular like most PEI beaches.

The pond doesn’t have a name according to the maps. Some references say the stream and pond are the end of the Bear River.

View Larger Map

CBC News – The P.E.I. government released a new strategy for the diagnosis and treatment of autism Tuesday, but the Autism Society says concrete results are a ways off.

The reports contains 37 recommendations, including:

* Development of a kindergarten support model.
* Increasing service capacity by hiring a preschool autism co-ordinator and three full-time preschool autism specialists.
* Hiring two new autism consultants to support students at the Eastern and Western School Boards.
* Creation of an autism resource centre and an autism research council
* Increasing wages for autism tutors from $10 to $11 an hour.

This last point was a major bone of contention for parents, as many have been topping up tutors’ wages out of their own pocket. Ronnie Nicholson has a four-year-old with autism, and he has struggled to find a steady tutor. Nicholson walked out of the government news conference in frustration, saying the wage increase is not enough to make a difference.

“We know what needs to be done,” said Nicholson, “but anyway, hopefully something will happen and soon.”

Education Minister Doug Currie said he understood the frustration, something that was also on display in November when parents of children with autism rallied at Province House.

“We saw today a typical example of the frustration,” said Currie, “but keeping in mind that the province has never had an action plan or a strategy, and today is a great first step.”

The Autism Society of P.E.I. agrees a bigger wage increase is required.

Despite numerous protests, UPEI refuses to allow people with disabilities to park closer to classes.

The President Wade MacLauchlan and the Board of Governors have refused to discuss the issue.