Disability news round up: schizophrenia, thalidomide, Jimmy Savile

One hundred years after the term schizophrenia was adopted, the charity Rethink Mental Illness has launched an inquiry into how the condition might be treated more effectively.

The chair of the inquiry, Professor Robin Murray, claimed during an interview on the Today programme on Radio 4 that schizophrenia "costs the health service more than cancer or cardiac disease."

While BBC science correspondent Tom Feilden reported on what has been dubbed "the forgotten illness" and took stock of a century of schizophrenia.

Writing on the subject for The Guardian's Comment is free blog, Rachel Whitehead examined a century of "bad treatment" for schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.

Elsewhere in the news:

Vulnerable adults: 96,000 alleged abuse cases reported (BBC News)

Texas judge won't face charges for beating daughter (The Guardian)

What's happened to Thalidomide babies? (BBC News)

Breaking the silence for those who cannot speak (BBC News)

Warning over legal aid cuts for disabled people (BBC News)

Mark Pollock faces his biggest challenge yet (BBC News)

How the late Sir Jimmy Savile fixed it for a Belfast woman to watch Neighbours with subtitles (BBC News)

Disability charity Scope launches a new bond to raise £20m (The Guardian)

Blog: Give deaf people the chance to use video relay service (The Guardian)

Giles Duley: 'My friends love the idea of me being half man, half camera' (The Guardian)

A way into books for children with dyslexia (The Telegraph)

We need to talk about breaking the mental health taboo (Mail Online)

'Autism is not a cross to bear': how patients' exceptional memory and visual skills 'can be an advantage' (Mail Online)

Down's Syndrome boy's mum asks: when did it become comedy to laugh at kids like my son? (Mirror.co.uk)

Strike on wheelchair man after bowling alley shootout (Ice News)