Dench rocks despite AMD

March 26, 2013

By Belinda Goldsmith

LONDON (Reuters) - Actress Judi Dench may be battling deteriorating eyesight and a failing memory but the veteran performer showed no sign of faltering when she teamed up with fellow James Bond star Ben Whishaw on a London stage on March 25.

Dench, 78, one of Britain's most-respected actresses, has tackled a list of stage and film roles over her career, at ease with Shakespeare as in Hollywood, playing M in seven Bond movies before bowing out of 007's life in last year's "Skyfall".

It emerged a year ago that Dench was suffering from macular degeneration, the leading cause of severe vision loss in people over 60, and she relied on friends to read scripts to her. This month she told a television interview she took fish oil tablets daily to boost her memory and remember her lines but said she had no intention of slowing down or stopping acting.

Dench won nothing but praise on Tuesday for joining 32-year-old Whishaw, the gadget guy Q in James Bond, in a new play, "Peter and Alice", by American playwright John Logan who co-wrote "Skyfall".

"(Dench) lends to Alice her brilliance at combining a sense of tart, witty combativeness with a reverberant depth of bruised humanity," wrote critic Paul Taylor in the Independent although he was less enamored with the play, giving it three stars out of five.

"Dench is unmatchable," raved the Times critic Libby Purves, giving the play that "breaks your heart open" five stars.

Logan's play imagines a real-life meeting between an elderly Alice Liddell Hargreaves and 30-something Peter Llewellyn Davies at a Lewis Carroll exhibition in 1932, the people who inspired Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" and J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan".

As the two start talking and look back to their childhoods, the gaps start to emerge between the fantasies of the stories they inspired and the harsh reality they faced as adults, confronting loss, death, illness and alcoholism.

The 90-minute play, painfully moving, was described as a tenderly sketched portrait of life's challenges.

TRAGEDY

"No one expresses that pain and resilience quite as acutely yet stoically as Judi Dench, and she is ideally partnered by the more depressively hang-dog presence of Ben Whishaw for a beautiful study in contrasts of how they deal with life's blows," wrote critic Mark Shenton in the Stage.

The true story of the five Davies brothers, whom Barrie befriended, is tragic. The eldest, George, died in the trenches of World War I, while Michael, the second youngest, committed suicide aged 20, and Peter, the middle child, killed himself by throwing himself in front of a London train in 1960 aged 63.

The case of Alice Hargreaves (nee Liddell) is almost as sad. She lost two of her three sons in World War I and ended up broke after her husband's death, selling off the original 1864 "Alice" manuscript to raise cash. She died in 1934.

"One of Judi Dench's great strengths, seen in countless Shakespearean heroines such as Viola and Beatrice, is her ability to combine ecstasy and melancholy, witnessed in abundance here," wrote the Guardian's critic Michael Billington, giving the play four stars.

"Peter and Alice", running at London's Noel Coward theatre until June 1, is Logan's first new play since "Red" which opened in London in 2009 and went on to win six Tony awards, Broadway's highest honors, in 2010.

Click here to read reports last year which first revealed Judi Dench's AMD.

Disability: A social issue to be treated with care

This is a commentary on the Scoot-Thomas Chan incident. Scroll down the blog to read Mr Chan's original complaint against Scoot airlines and also the company's response. 

March 15, 2013

The Straits Times

By Andy Ho 

Senior Writer

A WRITER to The Straits Times Forum Page revealed recently how budget airline Scoot barred him from a Dec19 flight because he is visually handicapped.

Travelling on his own, Mr Thomas Chan, 34, had a return ticket to Sydney, but was barred from the flight because he did not have “an accompanying guest”. Although an unrelated traveller was willing to put in writing that he would be Mr Chan’s carer for the journey, Scoot still stopped him from flying.

And all this came just after Singapore signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on Nov 30 last year. This international treaty, with 155 signatory nations of which 129 have ratified it, is a platform for fostering national-level changes to disability law and policy.

Once Parliament ratifies it, it will be incorporated as domestic law whereupon international civil rights for the disabled will be transposed to Singapore.

So the treaty creates human rights obligations for the disabled at the international level that are given effect at the domestic level. When implemented as law here, it should lead to deeper domestic internalisation of these human rights for the disabled, for the law can change mental structures.

In particular, the convention is rooted in a model of disability that sees it as a social problem rather than a medical one.

Think about it: If there are only stairs to the workplace, those in wheelchairs have no independent access to it. If there are no tactile tiles in MRT stations, the blind can’t self-navigate. So the disabled suffer impairments because of environments created without their needs in mind.

This means that a disability is not so much a physical problem lodged within the individual than one which primarily arises from the environment being built in ways that reflect social attitudes and norms that are unresponsive to the needs of the disabled.

But most able-bodied people think about the disabled as being saddled with biological deficits, so what they need is medical attention and some public aid. For most of us, the “problem” is located in the disabled person as a biological shortcoming of his.

So we try to fix him instead of adapting society to his abilities. But we build the environment for the average (able-bodied) person, in effect building barriers against those who are not like that average. If, however, the built environment were adapted for the whole range of human abilities, the disabled would suffer fewer or even few functional limitations.

If we re-imagined disability as a problem located at the interface between the individual and his environment, if we grasped how the built environment unfairly helps the able-bodied while disadvantaging the disabled, we may begin to see how society is morally obliged to remedy the environment for the disabled as a matter of civil rights, not special privileges.

But as a society we don’t quite perceive disability rights to be civil rights yet. The proof lies in our not yet having a law requiring all public and private organisations to redesign physical barriers like doorways, entry ways, lavatories and the like or modify their informational structures so the blind, deaf or dyslexic, say, can have equal access.

Happily, the rights the convention will introduce once it is incorporated as national law may compel society to re-examine its policies and processes that hamper the disabled daily.

Some may decry this “rights” talk but if we don’t engage in it, our society will continue to regard the disabled mainly as incapacitated individuals. If disability were just a biological flaw, any request to modify the environment would be conceived as a demand for special rights. And any remedy “offered” by “us” would be charity.

However, if we were to re-imagine their impairments to be not so much a lack of ability but something normally found within the whole gamut of human abilities, then the problem may be seen to reside in how our environment is built with no regard for them.

A law that construes disability rights as civil rights should encourage citizens to see disabilities as being less biological and more social in nature, and the disadvantages which the disabled face not as naturally but socially caused.

The treaty requires the signatory state to “designate one or more focal points” to implement it domestically and have the implementation monitored by an independent body that includes disabled individuals and their representative organisations “participating fully in the monitoring”.

It also requires the signatory state to include the disabled in its law-making process. However, aggrieved Singaporeans like Mr Chan would still have no individual recourse to the highest avenue under the treaty unless Singapore also accedes to the Optional Protocol, a side agreement among signatory states to permit the convention’s Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, comprising 18 human rights experts, to consider complaints from individuals. The Optional Protocol has 91 signatories, 76 of which have ratified it. Singapore has not signed it but should do so immediately and ratify it as well.

Wherever and whenever the disabled continue to be hampered by physical and informational barriers in their daily lives, it can only mean that their society is maladapted to human variation. The treaty signals global recognition of this fact – and ours too.

When it becomes domestic law, Singapore must implement it not woodenly as just technical standards to check off but as a map to transform our society into one where the disabled have equal dignity and equal worth.

andyho@sph.com.sg

Scoot doesn't discriminate against any passenger

The below is a response from Scoot to the earlier letter from Mr Thomas Chan. Scroll down to read Mr Chan's original letter. Scoot's response is also published in The Straits Times' Forum pages. 

WE THANK Mr Thomas Nathan Chan Kim Yong for his feedback ("Airlines shouldn't discriminate against travellers with disabilities"; Tuesday). As per our conditions of carriage, Scoot will not allow a person who requires special assistance to travel without an accompanying guest, unless the person can travel safely without assistance or supervision.

As a low-cost airline, we do not have the systems, staff or facilities required to assume responsibility for such assistance. This is clearly outlined in the terms and conditions that must be accepted in order to purchase a ticket, and via the "special needs" link on our website home page, which also states that incapacitated persons, those with an illness or other people requiring special assistance should contact us at least three days before the scheduled departure. If we are not notified, it may not be possible to obtain third-party services at short notice.

Though we note Mr Chan's claim that his friend had called to inform us that he was a blind person travelling on his own, we have been unable to locate the telephone call from our recorded archive, nor was there a note in the booking to indicate that the request had been made. 

We had substantial correspondence with Mr Chan on this matter and, from the beginning, committed to give a full refund should the investigation reveal that we had made a mistake. As no evidence could be found that Mr Chan had informed us beforehand, or had an accompanying passenger in his booking, we offered to refund only the taxes we had collected on behalf of the airport and the government authorities.

We do not discriminate against any passenger. All passengers, including those with disabilities, are subject to and must agree to the same terms and conditions. To prevent such cases in future, we have highlighted the relevant clauses via links on our website home page and in the booking path itself, in addition to the final confirmation of acceptance at the point of purchase.

See Ling Ling (Ms)

Assistant Manager,

Marketing & Communications

Scoot

Airlines shouldn't discriminate against travellers with disabilities

This is a letter written by Mr Thomas Chan Kim Yong, published in The Straits Times' Forum pages on Feb 19. 

I AM visually handicapped and travel quite frequently on my own as my family is in Australia. I bought a return air ticket to Sydney via the website of budget carrier Scoot on Oct 1 last year.

On Oct 4, my friend called Scoot to inform the airline that I was a blind person who was travelling on his own. The airline's agent said everything was noted in the system.

But on the day of departure on Dec 19, I was told by the check-in counter staff that there was no record that I had requested special assistance. I was not allowed to board the plane, even though I told the staff I needed to spend Christmas with my family.

A passenger who was taking the same flight offered to help me board the plane. He was willing to sign an agreement to state that he would be fully in charge of me throughout the journey. However, the duty manager refused to allow me to fly with him as he was not related to me.

She gave me two choices - either I find someone related to me to fly with me, or abandon my travel plans and Scoot would give me a refund. I was forced to buy another ticket from Singapore Airlines the next day to fly to Sydney on my own.

In the end, Scoot was willing to refund me only about $140. Just because I am visually handicapped does not mean I cannot take care of myself.

Sharing on new year hopes

By Peh Shing Huei

MDS Secretary

The Macular Degeneration Society kicked off its events for 2013 with an intimate sharing session last Saturday on members' wishes and hopes in the new year. Among the ideas exchanged were the events which members hope MDS can organise in 2013 and beyond. 

Sharing sessions should be a regular feature because it is in line with the objectives of the MDS, set up in 2007 to facilitate like-minded patients of macular degeneration share about their experiences and offer mutual support. Hence, a suggestion was mooted to have an event where our members would form a panel - a panel of "expert patients", if you would. Each expert patient can share on a particular slice of treatment for macular degeneration. 

For example, one could talk about the experiences of going through Lucentis treatment. Another can discuss about trying Avastin. Others can also share experiences of traditional Chinese medicine etc. It can be an event which MDS organise later this year or in early 2014. 

In addition, members also expressed a keen interest to find out more about the latest research, especially in stem cells. MDS organised a well-received stem cells talk last year by Dr Mandeep Singh and will aim to have more updates on this exciting and ground-breaking field. Click here to read our report from Dr Singh's talk in 2012.

Last, a member who was not able to attend the meeting said through e-mail that she hoped that we can have another session to teach members on eccentric viewing. We had a good event on that in 2011. Click here to read about it. But it will certainly be useful to bring it back, by popular demand! 

More help for the blind

The Straits Times
March 13, 2013

By Melody Zaccheus

Struck down by glaucoma early last year, Ms Patricia Chua, 30, holed herself up at home for six months after being left with just 10 per cent of her sight."I made visits to hospital only for medical check-ups in a wheelchair and was not confident enough to venture further," said the ex-administrative executive.

Six months later, after participating in a pilot version of the Home Care programme by the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped, she is now able to walk with the help of a cane, do basic chores and buy food from a nearby hawker centre.

Later this month the $180,000-a-year programme will be launched officially and reach more visually impaired individuals, said the association's executive director Mr Michael Tan. A team of six specialists, including social workers and occupational therapists, will serve around 30 clients every year.

Said Mr Tan: "More adults are losing their sight and end up having to learn everything all over again from basic activities like making coffee to taking a shower. This programme thus brings help and a support network to their doorstep through regular household visits."

The association has 3,300 registered clients. President Tony Tan, who toured the facility's grounds on Monday, commended the 62-year- old association. He said: "The visually impaired among us can lead independent lives if we help them build up the confidence and gain the skills to do so."

Dr Tan, who will be guest of honour at the association's charity banquet on March 26, also encouraged other voluntary welfare organisations to similarly enhance their services to address the emerging needs of Singapore's ageing population.

melodyz@sph.com.sg

First bionic eye approved

The United States government has approved a bionic eye for the first time to help blind people. It is meant for those with retinitis pigmentosa, but could also be used to treat those with macular degeneration in future. 

Electrical stimulation is sent to the retina to induce vision. Some of the early patients testing the device said they could distinguish boundaries between objects and differentiate light from dark.

Some could read large letters, while for others, being able to match sock colors and detect street curbs were more important for helping them to live more independently.

There are other projects to come up with a bionic eye but this is the first one which has been officially approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Read here for a 2010 report on our blog on another bionic eye project.

Click here and here to read more about this device, which is called Argus II.