I Knew this Day was Coming!

I don't know which is hardest to believe: that he's off to high school in the fall or that he's as tall as I am!  

Wow, I think it's both :) 

A New Day Conference

Attached please see information on a forthcoming conference sponsored by ARCA on housing and employment for individuals with developmental disabilities. Looks like an outstanding program and speakers.  I attended the first one, and it was great. I’m sure it’s better now. See you there J

A NEW DAY   2012

The Fourth ARCA Conference 

on Employment and Housing for People 

with Developmental Disabilities

Working Toward a Positive Future

September 18 –19th
Pasadena Hilton
Pasadena, California

The conference will provide a forum for sharing knowledge and expertise on the promising 

practices and innovations that make employment and housing a reality for people with 

developmental disabilities. The Conference is a place where advocates, self-advocates, 

and a wide range of professionals and academics converge to share ideas, discuss priorities, 

and take action to create positive change in the lives of people with disabilities.

A NEW DAY   2012

The Fourth ARCA Conference 

on Employment and Housing for People 

with Developmental Disabilities

Working Toward a Positive Future

September 18 –19th

Pasadena Hilton

Pasadena, California

The conference will provide a forum for sharing knowledge and expertise on the promising 

practices and innovations that make employment and housing a reality for people with 

developmental disabilities. The Conference is a place where advocates, self-advocates, 

and a wide range of professionals and academics converge to share ideas, discuss priorities, 

and take action to create positive change in the lives of people with disabilities.

Keynote Speakers

Dale Dileo

Dale is a widely sought-after speaker and consultant, 

and well-known advocate for people with disabilities.  

He is the Past President of the Board of the 

Association for Persons in Supported Employment 

(APSE) and is the lead author of that organization’s 

highly respected Ethical Guidelines in Supported 

Employment. His popular book, Raymond’s Room, 

focuses on ending the shameful segregation of 

people with disabilities in community life.

Robin Cooper 

Robin works with state, county, and local 

governments as well as advocacy and provider 

organizations on issues in long-term community 

services for people with disabilities. She has focused 

on assisting states to redesign support coordination 

systems and providing technical assistance to states 

to modify their Medicaid-financed home and 

community-based waiver, and state plan programs 

to include more person-centered and participant directed options. 

Peter Gerhardt

Peter Gerhardt is the Director of Education - Upper 

School for the McCarton School in New York City. 

Dr. Gerhardt has over 30 years experience utilizing 

the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis in 

support of adolescents and adults with ASD 

in educational, employment, residential, and 

community-based settings. He is the author or 

co-author of articles and book chapters on the 

needs of adolescents and adults with autism 

spectrum disorder and he has presented nationally 

and internationally on this topic. In addition, he  

serves as Chairman of the Scientific Council for the 

Organization for Autism Research, on the Editorial 

Board of Behavior Analysis in Practice, and on 

numerous professional advisory boards including 

the Autism Society of America. 

Erin Riehle

Erin is a recognized authority and national leader 

in promoting employment opportunities for people 

with disabilities and other barriers to employment. 

She is a founder and Senior Director of Project 

SEARCH, an employment and transition program 

that has received national recognition for innovative 

practices pioneered under Ms. Riehle’s guidance.

In addition the conference will have workshops 

on housing and employment including the 

following topics:

•  Job development and marketing

•  Transformation of services

•  Job support resources

•  Internship programs and self-employment

•  Microenterprise

•  Public policy and systems change

•  The future of housing for people with 

developmental disabilities

•  Sustainable housing

•  Case studies of successful housing developments

            

http://arcanet.org/new-day/community-conversations

Diagnosis to Work...10 years.

It's been 12 years, almost to the day since Nicky was diagnosed with ASD at age 2 and it's only been 18 months since I went back to work full time. Ten years of  ASD 24/7 where did the time go?

So much has changed, and much is still the same, like Nicky's love for books.

Autism's Rising Rates Increasingly Blamed On Toxic Chemicals

Thank you Huffington Post for including my thoughts in this important perspective. 

BLAME CHEMICALS FOR RISING RATES OF AUTISM?
READ MORE » 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/24/autism-toxic-chemicals-children-environment-risk-factors_n_1543316.html

While pregnant with her son Edgar, Melissa Wolfe followed the lead of many a cautious woman before her. She took prenatal vitamins and ate organic vegetables. She avoided dyeing her hair and using hairspray. She even went as far as to leave the kitchen whenever someone turned on the microwave.

"I was very vigilant. Perhaps a little crazy," said Wolfe, of Brentwood, N.H.

Yet Wolfe still fears that her 4-year-old's autism may have resulted from chemicals infiltrating her womb, whether components of her migraine medicine, contaminants brought home from her husband's work installing rubber flooring, or remnants of the remodeling the couple did on their house.

Melissa Wolfe with her son, Edgar.

The remodeling "created even more chemicals that I was breathing while pregnant," she said. Wolfe also wonders if her father's exposure toAgent Orange during the Vietnam War, which the government has now blamed for his prostate cancer, might be somehow connected to her son's disability.

To date, science has not directly linked any of these environmental exposures with any of the disabling behavioral and cognitive conditions that fall along the autism spectrum. But rising rates of autism along with the increasing breadth and reach of synthetic chemicals -- some of which are known to be toxic and most of which we know near nothing about -- raises questions for which scientists are beginning to offer a few answers.

As the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in April, autism now affects an estimated one in 88 kids. Among boys, the burden is even higher: about one in 54. And the ramifications of the rise go beyond the child, the family and even the school. In decades to come, individuals with autism are now expected will account for one in 88 adults, meaning society will pay the price in terms of lifetime care and other medical expenses. All told, managing autism already costs the country $35 billion a year.

Researchers sense the urgency. Many are now investigating factors that might help curb the epidemic. This generally means looking beyond genetics, the avenue of investigation that has consumed most of the government's funds and researchers' time over the last several years.

"While studying genes might help us identify diagnostic tests, which can make you a profit, it will not lead us towards preventing disease," said Bruce Lanphear, an environmental health researcher at Simon Frasier University in British Columbia. He pointed to lung cancer as a case in point: All the genetic links in the world amount to little compared to the role of smoking cigarettes, and therefore encouraging people to abstain is medicine's single most effective response.

It's also increasingly clear that genetics can't tell the whole story of autism. A Stanford University study of twins published last year found that genetics accounts for just 38 percent of the risk.

"That analysis suggested that the assumption that this is mostly a genetic condition was perhaps made in error," said Diana Schendel, a scientist with the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. "Maybe the environment plays a larger role in autism than we once believed."

Schendel, who is involved in a large study looking at possible risk factors during a child's early development, doesn't expect to find one smoking gun. Like other experts in the field, she thinks a cocktail of chemical insults on top of genetic susceptibility is likely to blame for each case of autism.

Drugs used decades ago to treat morning sickness, bipolar disorder and ulcers, as well as the insecticide chlorpyrifos, have already been tied to autism. With about 80,000 chemicals available for industry use, most of which remain untested for toxicities, researchers have plenty more potential culprits to investigate. A study spearheaded by the advocacy organization Environmental Working Group found an average of 200 industrial chemicals in the umbilical cord blood of 10 babies born in U.S. hospitals in 2004.

Such figures have raised alarms given the host of health problems on the rise among kids, including diabetes, obesity, asthma and cancer. Growing children are extremely sensitive to chemicals, even at very low doses. And of all the developing organs, the brain may be the most vulnerable. The time window for a chemical to wreak havoc extends from the early embryo all the way through adolescence, when the brain finally matures.

"The brain goes through rapid changes, all complex and all easily disrupted," said Dr. Philip Landrigan, chairman of the department of preventative medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. "Take a Swiss watch and multiply that by 1,000."

In April, Landrigan co-authored a report that highlighted 10 widely used chemicalsand mixtures of chemicals that are suspected of harming the developing brain, including lead, methylmercury, organochlorine pesticides, endocrine disruptors such as bisphenol-A and phthalates, automobile exhaust, and flame retardants.

Recent research by Irva Hertz-Picciotto, an autism expert at the University of California, Davis, supports the list. She has found hints of links between autism andproximity to freeways, pesticides and a parent's occupational exposures, as well asnutrition.

The latter study was the first to illustrate how genes and the environment might interact to trigger the disease. "Children who inherited unlucky genes that made them less efficient at utilizing and metabolizing the folic acid of prenatal vitamins had a five- to seven-fold higher risk of autism," Hertz-Picciotto said.

Next up for her team: agricultural chemicals and possibly bisphenol-A.

Other research published over the past few months has added evidence that flame retardants and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), as well as some factors more broadly considered environmental such as a mother's diabetes or fevers during pregnancy, might be implicated in autism and other learning disorders. Several more ongoing studies are looking into social factors, medications taken during pregnancy, and infections.

"We are so many years away from having the answers, but we are far closer to a tsunami of young autistic men in our communities, getting assaulted, assaulting others," said Donna Ross-Jones of Los Angeles, who blogs about life as the mother of a 14-year-old boy with autism. "When we look at the impact on housing and employment, on society, it's pretty scary. This is not like a small group we can put in a closet."

Nicky and Donna Ross-Jones.

Generalizing about the members of this afflicted group is difficult. Ask 100 different parents of children with autism, and you'll likely get 100 different descriptions of the condition, its challenges and its causes.

Edgar Wolfe, for example, may have a lot of autistic behavior patterns, such as slapping his hands and talking to himself, but his mom noted that he has no problem making eye contact and talking with other people. Nicholas "Nicky" Ross-Jones, on the other hand, "can't carry on a typical conversation with you," said his mom, "yet he can break into your computer and break past your firewall."

Donna Ross-Jones still wonders if the mercury tooth filling she received early in her pregnancy could have put her child at increased risk. "I'm certain it was environmental," she said. "But what all those factors were, I don't know. I do believe they are the realities of a poisoned planet, perhaps not necessarily just one chemical but an onslaught."

That same line of reasoning is why autism experts like Mount Sinai's Landrigan aren't waiting until they find answers in their labs before pushing for regulatory reform.

As The Huffington Post reported earlier this week, children's health experts and advocates are urging Congress to retire the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act and replace it with the more rigorous and precautionary Safe Chemicals Act, which currently awaits a Senate vote.

"We need to reform the [Toxic Substances Control Act]," said Landrigan. "The present legislation is obsolete and is not working. It's just creating a situation which is dangerous for America's children."

On Tuesday, Melissa Wolfe was among 200 moms in Washington, D.C., pressing senators to push back against industry opposition and pass the Safe Chemicals Act. Like many other parents, Wolfe finds it difficult to keep toxic chemicals away from herself and her family. She knows that products often contain unlisted ingredients, such as the chemical make-up of the fragrance in a "fresh-baked apple pie candle," she said.

"I just want to wrap my kids in bubble wrap," added Wolfe. "But then I say, 'What is in the bubble wrap?'"

An 8 Year Old Blind, Autistic Boy Came Across a Street Performer

This video reminded me of a day when Nicky heard a man on the street play the saxophone. He just stopped, and began rocking to the music. I, being no where near as enlightened as Nicky wanted to keep moving. I was uncomfortable, I didn't feel safe.  The man looked homeless and the street corner was less than desirable. Then I heard Nicky say "Saxophone", a word he had never said before, in a happy excited tone. So for several minutes we just stood there, Nick enjoying the music and me appreciating Nick's language and how it had been inspired by a stranger on a street corner that would of gone un noticed by me. It was one of those days when it was so clear to me that our kids are better people than most of us, I was ashamed. I got over it, but I never forgot.     

This is a wonderful video enjoy

An 8 Year Old Blind, Autistic Boy Came Across a Street Performer

What happens next is beautiful.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e48_1337585880

Transition to Adulthood: Guidelines for Individuals with ASD

This is from Ohio, so it may not be identical for your state, but the concepts are on target no matter where you live. It's written like an official document including narrative most parents raising a teenager or young adult already know, HOWEVER is you can get past what you know there's important information for all of us and it's a great tool to share with folks "who don't know". That said, I thought it was worth the share and spreading around J

A great supplement to the Preparing Individuals for Employment Module: Transition to Adulthood Guidelines for Individuals with ASD web-based booklets.  The current OCALI Transition to Adulthood Guidelines for Individuals with ASD has been revised and formatted into a series of free web–based booklets. Each booklet focuses on one aspect of the transition from school to adult life. Four booklets are now available on the OCALI website:

·      IEP Components of the Transition Process
·      Considerations for School Programming
·      Age-Appropriate Transition Assessment
·      Employment
Each booklet offers information about the subject area, implications for individuals with ASD, examples, and resources. Many direct links to more in-depth information are available in each booklet. While these guidelines discuss issues surrounding ASD and transition, much of the information is appropriate for any transition-age youth served through the IEP process. 

Transition to Adulthood Guidelines

"Transition to adulthood" is a complex and ongoing process that starts as soon as a child is born and continues as the child becomes an adolescent,  to early adult life and then through the stages of adulthood.  While this process is complicated at best for any person, the individual with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) faces unique challenges that require specialized considerations. This set of guides will help the user understand these challenges and raise awareness of these important considerations

A critical time for transition planning is in the early years of middle school through the first few years following graduation from high school. This time period is the focal point of the Transition to Adulthood guides and will assist the individual with ASD and his or her team in reviewing the issues of adulthood related to employment, postsecondary education and adult living during these years. Implications for the individual with ASD to consider are highlighted throughout. Identification of  resources and many active links to important information are provided. Use this set of guides as a reference and resource and to help frame a way to think about the issues related to adulthood.

---

Age-Appropriate Transition Assessment

In this volume, Age-Appropriate Transition Assessment, the user will take a close look at the intention of Age-Appropriate Transition Assessment (AATA) and the implications to students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Accurate and meaningful AATA is critical to the development of a plan that both fits the student’s interests and strengths and meets the student’s needs. 

Application of this process for students with ASD requires special consideration. The goal of this guide is to assist the team in understanding these issues and to provide assistance with the development of an AATA plan. The resulting plan should provide useful, accurate and individualized information that leads to critical skill development for the future based on the student’s preferences interests, needs and strengths. 

View Age-Appropriate Transition Assessment

Employment

In this volume, Employment, the user will focus on the post school outcome of employment. The guide begins with a  focus on planning and preparing the individual with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for employment during the transition years. As the user moves through the volume, the focus comes to include information and considerations for those seeking employment or for those currently employed. Implications for the individual with ASD are highlighted as well as resources for improving career development and employment support. The goal of this volume is to help the user understand  the issues surrounding  successful employment for the individual with ASD and to highlight the supports and resources  that lead to and assist in maintaining meaningful employment. 

View Employment

IEP Transition Components

In this volume, IEP Transition Components, the user will be introduced to the legislation that supports transition planning for the individual with a disability, as well as the legislation that provides for ongoing services for adults with disabilities. Each step of the IEP transition planning process will be explored to allow users to review their own documents and plans. The goal of this volume is to assist in creating a process that results in a meaningful  IEP document for the youth with ASD that will serve as a guide for the team in the future. 

View IEP Transition Components

School-Age Programming

In this volume, School Age Programming to Prepare for Transition to Adulthood, the user will take a close look at important elements  of educational programming for transition-age youth and the implications for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). While academic achievement is a required area of focus of an educational program, other areas of skill development that must be considered as well in order for students to achieve a successful adult life. For students with ASD, this includes issues such as social competency and life skills development. 

The goal of this guide is to assist the team to understand these issues, to offer strategies and to suggest additional resources that can  enhance the development of a secondary education program that prepares the student for a successful adult life. 

View School-Age Programming

You can click on this link to get more …..http://www.ocali.org/project/transition_to_adulthood_guidelines

Social Skills Programs Working for Teenagers!

Class at Vernon Hills High School teaches social skills, stress management

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-x-teen-autism-program-20120516,0,6879053.story

 

Part of Erron Gerstein's socialization lesson includes learning polite conversation. Erron, who has autism, is enrolled in Vernon Hills High School's "Tutorial: A Program for Independence," which is targeted to students on the autism spectrum. (Michael Tercha, Chicago Tribune / May 14, 2012)

By Amy Alderman, Chicago Tribune reporter

May 16, 2012

Making connections can be a challenge for many teens, but it has been especially tough for Erron Gerstein, an 18-year-old student with autism at Vernon Hills High School.

Although he wanted to socialize with other students, simply approaching them was often daunting.

But Erron has become more bold since he enrolled in "Tutorial: A Program for Independence," a new class offering this school year.

"Starting a conversation — it was hard," he said. Tutorial instructors "teach me how to take the initiative or make a conversation. I get to be around people I enjoy."

The program, created to address the increased enrollment of students with autistic spectrum disorders in the past five years, is designed to help the youths better interact socially and be better prepared for life after graduation. Erron is one of five students who meet with a case manager the first and last period of every school day to work on social skills and develop stress management techniques.

The students learn time-management and organizational skills to help them break down large assignments. They also role-play, which helps expand their social awareness by making eye contact, asking questions and acknowledging statements, program administrators say.

Often, the students rate their mornings, afternoons and weekends on a scale of "dreadful" to "perfect" as a way of processing the events of a full school day, special services teacher Rebeca Garcia said.

The program can be a stepping stone to college or to a transition program such as the Special Education District of Lake County, where they learn independent living and job skills, said Robin Myerberg, special services supervisor at Vernon Hills High School.

Experts say programs like Tutorial are springing up in high schools throughout Illinois to address students who will age out of public high schools.

Mary Kay Betz, executive director of the Autism Society of Illinois, said students diagnosed with an autism disorder need transitional programs to help integrate them into their communities.

"There's definitely a need for it and definitely increased awareness within our school districts," Betz said.

But the success rate of such programs has been mixed, she said. "There really is no best practice yet."

Some programs ask students to achieve certain goals or participate in activities that don't suit their personalities.

"You take the program and fit it around the child," Betz said. "No program is a one-size-fits-all."

Christian Eric Straube, a psychologist who specializes in counseling people on the autism spectrum, agrees programs such as Tutorial are helpful as long as the skills and techniques students learn extend out of the classroom.

"It would make sense to practice in multiple settings. A child on the spectrum — they're so concrete in the way they think," Straube said.

"They might know a skill, but they might not know how to transfer that to a job or a restaurant."

Tutorial students are encouraged to participate in after-school activities with regular education students who volunteer as mentors. The volunteers model appropriate behaviors to help the students with autism work on their social skills. It helps teach them how to behave as part of a group, Myerberg said.

"A lot of times they go home after school and they're just at home without any community involvement — without their peers. This way, they're able to go to school activities with their peers, just like everybody else," she said.

Many of the students have become much more independent since Tutorial began, said Garcia, the special services teacher.

Coconut Oil and Autism, Epilepsy and Alzheimer's...amazing!

A few weeks ago I put up a blog chatting about homemade chicken tenders made with coconut oil, that Nick can't get enough of. What I didn't mention is, I opted for coconut oil not just because I know it's good for you, but mostly because Nicky has been known to go into the pantry and eat scoops of coconut oil straight out of the jar. Which causes me to make that "yuck...that's gross face" and in turn I've made him stop. Seem's his body might have known something, all this time, that I didn't. Something like, coconut oil is good for me.

I just watched a video talking about how coconut oil has improved the lives of people living with Alzheimer's disease.  As I watched, I was thinking the friend who sent it to me must of been thinking it was just good information to spread around. Then I kept listening to how the oil was positively affecting brain function and thinking to myself "I wonder if it would help Nicky"?. I continued to listen and before the video ended they mentioned Autism and Epilepsy!!!   Wow, I am so keeping it on hand and feeding it to him every day.  Heck I would rather experiment with coconut oil than pharmaceuticals!

Coconut oil  - A Real Eye Opener! http://www.cbn.com/media/player/index.aspx?s=/mp4/LJO190v1_WS

APA forced to Re-Open Public Comment on DSM5

This just in....

In response to the intense criticism surrounding the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5 (DSM5), the American Psyciatric Association (APA) has re-opened public comment on the proposed changes. Please log in to the APA website at www.dsm5.org and please provide comments on why the proposed changes to the definition of autism are poorly considered notions that pose a great threat to people with autism, yet provide no tangible benefits.

You can comment at ww.DSM5.org and please copy and paste your comments and send them in an email to Autism Action Network at jgilmore@autismactionnetwork.org

Multiple studies have shown that anywhere from 55% to 19% (the APA's own study) of all people with a current diagnosis will lose their autism diagnosis. For many people the loss of the diagnosis will also mean loss of educational placements, possible health insurance coverage, Medicaid waivers, early intervention and other services. A new catch-all diagnosis called "social communication disorder" has been invented as a new label to apply to those who lose their autism diagnosis.

If changed, the new diagnostic critieria will also allow those who want to deny the epidemic the leeway to discount the last 20 years of autism epidemiology. They will claim that due to the changes in the DSM5 we are comparing apples and oranges. 

We can fully expect school districts, service providers and insurance comapnies to require re-evaluation with the proposed new criteria, we have received reports that this is already happening. The cost to re-evaluate 100,000's of people with autism will be extremely expenisve to families, and the ovrerall cost of adopting the new DSM5 will require the retraining of thousands of professionals, also at great expense.

And to top if off, the APA has not been able to identify a single benefit to people with autism that will result from this pointless, dangerous and expensive venture. Please comment at www.DSM5.org and please copy paste your comments and email them to the Autism Action Network at jgilmore@autismactionnetwork.org. We will be posting the most interesting comments on our website.

Please share this email with friends and family and please post to Facebook and other social networks. And again please comment at www.dsm5.org

One in Every 2 Americans Live in Poverty....

I had my second opportunity to listen to these 2  men speak last week. I've been a fan of Dr. West for a long time and I've always appreciated his intellect and perspective. But the message hit me harder this go round because it's clearer to me that what they are saying in true. Facing the realities of putting my daughter through college, getting critical care for Nicholas, knowing one in every 2 Americans live in poverty, right now in the US...shakes me to the core. When I contemplate how such a society will care for all of our vulnerable populations including our children with developmental disabilities.  I don't feel optimistic, at least not today. 

Cornel West and Tavis Smiley Rightfully Scare Us

Posted: 04/30/2012 11:27 am

More often than not, lionized public figures like Tavis Smiley and Cornel West bring out the cynic in me. But both men were intellectual and spiritual giants as they captured the hearts and minds of the packed house at The Paramount theater in Oakland on Saturday evening. Oakland was their last stop in a national tour discussing their new book, The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto. We have the amazing KALW (91.7 on your dial) to thank for their incredibly hard work to make this important community conversation happen.

I cannot pretend to be objective in my opinion here. My own experiences growing up poor make this a very personal issue for me. I was deeply moved by their thoughtful commentary on the way the expansion of poverty is eroding this county from the inside out. Tavis Smiley told the crowd that a whopping 50% of Americans are in poverty now, or verging on poverty. This is clearly a devastating number. But what moved me even more was the powerful exploration by both men, of American values and the way in which our most cherished values are being terribly violated as they are expressed through our economic and political institutions.

The heart of Smiley and West's message is simple and profound: the United States is far more economically divided than most people want to acknowledge,and this chasm will destroy our nation. They make their case in their book by using vast amounts of very robust data from credible sources, like the Pew Research Center. (Indeed, this is the same data that drives the work we do atEARN to help low income workers save and invest to foster prosperity.)

There are some of you who will quickly dismiss Smiley, West, and their message. You may dismiss them because you don't like their politics, or don't like them as people. You make this dismissal at your own peril, and the peril of our nation. Irrespective of how you view Tavis Smiley or Cornel West, their passionate call to the American public to face the hard facts, is rooted in data that transcends politics or ideology.

In fact, the Smiley-West cautionary message is backed by groundbreaking research from economists Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, in their new book Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty. Acemoglu and Robinson conducted expansive research to understand why some nations fail while others prosper. While much of the conventional wisdom among economists on the issue involves natural resources or cultural traits, Acemoglu and Robinson found that it is open political institutions that allow for shared power, and collective decision making about economic opportunity that drive prosperity.

This thesis cuts straight to the heart of what Smiley and West warn us is coming. Tens of millions of Americans toil endlessly, but never find their efforts rewarded with economic security. Increasingly, these hard working people will be disenfranchised and disengaged from the political process, and have less say in how economic opportunity is fostered and distributed. This is precisely the dynamic that Acemoglu and Robinson found at the heart of poverty, corruption, and human beings at their worst. We're moving down a dangerous path as a nation. Listening carefully to what West and Smiley have to say, however, is a good step back in the right direction.

Follow Ben Mangan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/benmangan