CHICAGO - For 60 years, Jerry Lewis has hosted the Muscular Dystrophy Association annual Labor Day telethon. And for about 20 years, one of "Jerry's Kids" has been at odds with him over the way the money is raised.

Mike Ervin appeared on the telethon when he was six years old. Now he's a writer and disability rights activist who speaks out against the telethon because he claims it promotes stereotypes of people with disabilities as objects of pity.

At the same time, Ervin says he understands that people who answer the phones and appear on the show mean well.

"Of course we all want to give, but we really need to use the telethon as an opportunity to really seriously think about what charity is. At what point does it become something to deny or to ignore what we have to do?"

Ervin says with the unemployment rate up around 20 percent for people with disabilities, he prefers investments in programs that promote jobs and help people stay out of institutions.

"The infrastructure is still bad. They're still in institutions because services aren't there, and all these problems continue to exist."

Because of stereotypes, Ervin says many people treat him like a helpless person when they see him in his power chair. He cites, for example, an incident outside a coffee shop as he waited for the streetlight to change. A passerby mistook Ervin's newly purchased cup of tea for a beggar's cup.

"A man came out and held out his hand, and his hand had change in it. Then he saw that I had a lid on the cup, and he said 'Oh, shut down for the day, huh?'"

People with disabilities need jobs, not pity, Ervin says. In past years, he has contacted the state attorney general to check the telethon organization's 990 federal tax form to try to get clear info on how much is raised in contrast to how much it costs to produce the telethon.

"That form will tell you exactly what they make and how they make it. And they raise, curiously enough, quite a bit of money without their telethons."

He adds that he has nothing against the Muscular Dystrophy Association raising money, he just thinks the organization should take a different approach. An association spokesman says that they try to portray people with disabilities as leaders in the community.

Disability rights groups have produced a half-hour documentary on Ervin's fight and posted it on the Web. It can be viewed at www.thekidsareallright.org.




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HARRISBURG, Pa. - Many Pennsylvania county jails don't have clear policies to support voting access for people in jails, according to a new report that says this inconsistency leaves some eligible voters in the dark.

The groups All Voting Is Local, Common Cause Pennsylvania and Committee of Seventy filed right-to-know requests with 61 county jails, asking for their voting procedures for people incarcerated. They learned there's no universal plan for providing information on voter registration or getting ballots to the 25,000 people in county jails.

Aerion Abney, special-projects director for All Voting is Local, said that without any processes in place, it leaves those prospective voters disenfranchised.

"You're basically telling the person in jail, 'It's your own responsibility, it's up to you to know who to call to even ask for a voter-registration form.' When you don't do that," he said, "you have a whole segment of the voting bloc that may not even know that they have the right to cast a ballot."

Of the 46 county jails that responded, 57% had no written policy on jail voting. The report also found in the entire state jail population, only 52 people requested mail-in ballots in the 2020 general election at 18 of the county jails.

The report suggested maintaining relationships with county election officials and providing voter-registration opportunities are pathways forward for county jails. Abney said helping people in jail determine their voting eligibility can have a major impact, even after they're released.

"We really see this as an opportunity to create positive voting experiences for people who are in jail, and there are longterm benefits to that happening," he said. "When they have positive experiences with voting, they tend to vote again in the future."

The report also recommended making mail-in ballot applications readily available. Abney said he'd like to see some of these solutions in place for the November election.

AUSTIN, Texas - As part of a special session called by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, legislators will try again next week to pass a bill requiring transgender student athletes play on sports teams based on the gender assigned to them at or near birth.

It's one of several anti-transgender bills Texas legislators have introduced in recent sessions.

Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen is executive director for the National Center for Transgender Equality and a Cuban American transgender man. He said rates of bullying go up in states that introduce bills that prevent students from participating in sports.

"Can you imagine being 16 years old, all you want to do is play on your high school volleyball team with your friends," said Heng-Lehtinen, "and your governor is saying that you are some kind of demon?"

Gov. Abbott last week announced a third special legislative session that will begin on September 20 to address restrictions on transgender student athletes.

When it comes to transition-related health-care options for transgender kids, Texas lawmakers failed to pass proposed restrictions in an earlier session.

But Abbott has asked a state agency to determine whether allowing transgender kids to have certain gender-confirmation surgeries constitutes child abuse.

Heng-Lehtinen said for many young transgender people, gender-affirming health care is only available if they travel to a large city.

"There are not enough doctors out there yet that are fully informed about transgender health and are able really to care for us adequately," said Heng-Lehtinen.

Heng-Lehtinen said he expects anti-trans bills that didn't pass in conservative states this year to be reintroduced in future sessions.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- As the nation marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks this weekend, Muslim groups are reflecting on progress in the treatment of American Muslims.

In Nevada, Muslims make up less than 1% of the population, with about 10,000 in the Las Vegas area, and a smaller but thriving community in Reno. Prominent members of the community include Athar Haseebullah, the new executive director of the ACLU of Nevada.

Masih Fouladi, deputy executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations in Los Angeles, said the community may have more visibility, but old prejudices remain.

"Our community as a whole has become much more civically engaged over the last 20 years," Fouladi observed. "But we still face a lot of the same issues, of hate crimes, surveillance, and just this Islamophobic mindset."

In June, a Las Vegas man claiming to be angry about the 9/11 attacks was arrested for harassing his Muslim neighbors by smearing raw bacon on their car, front door and handrails. Many Muslims consider pork to be unclean.

Fouladi recounted many American Muslims also were dismayed during the Trump administration, when the former president declared a so-called "Muslim ban," tightened refugee quotas and limited funding to refugee resettlement organizations.

Now, Gov. Steve Sislolak's Office of New Americans is working with nonprofit groups to roll out the welcome mat for the new Afghan refugees who will arrive in the coming months.

Fouladi contended the resettlement process is an opportunity for American values to shine.

"Our lawmakers, media, allies and just your everyday citizens can really show that, as a country, we have grown, with how we treat these people coming into the country," Fouladi asserted.

The Masjid As-Sabur, the first Muslim community group in Nevada, is one of several that will be helping Afghan refugees. The group also is giving food to anyone who needs it on Oct. 18 as part of a nationwide annual Day of Dignity, organized by Islamic Relief USA.