A bit of a catch up on the last two weeks …
Tuesday, December 8
Tuesday, December 15
Wednesday, December 16
Thursday, December 17
Friday, December 18
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Showing posts with label Weekly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weekly. Show all posts
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Weekly Reading List
I’ve got to cut down on the blogging breaks. It’s hard to get back into the daily habit. A rundown of articles I’ve read recently is a good way to get back in shape, though.
Lydia Brown, Autistic Hoya - December 12, 2015
As far as I know, I am not autistic, but I am fascinated with the way autism is understood, misunderstood, and often grossly misinterpreted. One of the biggest hangups people have about autism seems to be the idea that autistic people are, by definition, impenetrable and unknowable. In that light, personal testimonies from autistic people about what it’s like to be autistic should be absolute gold, especially to parents of autistic kids and other people who want to help autistic people. Sadly, few people who say they are deeply invested in the “problem” or “epidemic” of autism seem to read or take seriously the actual words of autistic people. I can even understand that a bit when it comes to some of the more defiant, challenging, or poetic things I’ve read by autistic writers, even though they’re great, too. But this is such a matter-of-fact description, largely free of judgment, that I can’t believe it isn’t required reading for everyone connected in any way to an autistic person. With, clear, accessible things like this available for anyone to read, the biggest mystery to me about autism is why it’s considered a mystery at all.
Shelia Cosgrove Baylis, People Magazine - December 11, 2015
In many ways this is a pretty standard story of bonehead disability discrimination. I call it “bonehead” discrimination because it is both unintended and completely, easily avoidable. I am including this article on the list because it’s so unusual to see a disability story that is entirely about accessibility … and not at all teary or heartwarming … and in a popular magazine read by people who mostly aren’t tuned in to disability issues. It’s even better that readers probably won’t feel sorry for Ms. Jay, but will instead be angry right along with her. That’s absolutely central to the difference between the Medical Model and Social Model approaches to disability … the difference between “misfortune” and “injustice.”
By the way, at some point I’m going to have to do a post about what “unintended” actually means in the context of disability discrimination. I think this incident might be a good starting point for that conversation.
Alfred Ng, The New York Daily News - December 14, 2015
I hesitate to post this item, because there is so much fear and hysteria around ISIS, and with some justification. One the one hand, I'm a bit suspicious about the sources of this story ... mostly virulently anti-Muslim groups and tabloids like The Daily News. On the other hand, I have no trouble imagining that a group like ISIS might, in fact, institute a horrible policy like this. Totalitarian regimes based on hatred, that are focused on human nationality or affiliation as if the group is an organism that can be pure or poisoned seem to lead to a particularly extreme form of disability rejection. If the "nation" matters more than the individuals who make it up, then ordinary ableism can easily become a mandate for elimination. The parallels to Nazi Germany are pretty obvious.
I also think it's interesting that ISIS may be connecting disabled children in their territories with "foreign" fighters ... people from other countries who join ISIS. Is that the only way they can rhetorically explain the presence of disability in the "perfect" little world they are creating?
Still, we should be at least a little cautious. By all accounts, the Imperial German Army behaved truly horribly in the opening months of the FIrst World War. That doesn't alter the fact that the Allied countries didn't whip up a bunch of preposterous anti-German propaganda anyway.
Rachel Stockman, WSB TV 2 Atlanta - December 7, 2015
Stories like this make it harder and harder to maintain the sober, sophisticated take on disability rights, wherein everyone acknowledges that most disability discrimination is accidental and everybody accepts disabled people now. If that’s true, then why do segregated programs and facilities for disabled people still exist … not just in isolated pockets, but endorsed and supported by entire states? It’s hard to escape the conclusion that a critical mass of people in any given area or state still, basically, don’t want disabled people around, getting in the way, and sucking up resources from normal, proper people. I have no call to be regionally snobbish about Georgia, either. My state, the vaunted Empire State, still sends at least some students to separate schools. They even have a catchy acronym like Georgia’s GNETS … in New York it’s the Board of Cooperative Educational Services, BOCES.
Samuel Bagenstos, Democracy, A Journal Of Ideas - December 16, 2014
I have had a weird sort of attitude problem for many years about parents of disabled kids who get really scared and angry when they realize that seamless, comprehensively planned services for their disabled sons and daughters won’t automatically extend into adulthood. First of all, I tend to think that the problems themselves are not as terrible as they are often portrayed. Adult disability services are fragmented and you have to do a lot of planning and advocacy to make them work, but they are there and they do work for lots of people. Second, the outrage parents express about this has a tinge of privilege and entitlement … “How dare you all walk away as soon as my child turns 21!” Like I said, I have an attitude problem about this. That’s why I found this article so valuable. It finally really convinced me that the “Disability Cliff” is real, and that it’s a lot worse than it needs to be. Support services for adults with disabilities should be a lot simpler, easier to access, and secure. And Sam Bagenstos’ article explains precisely how. It’s a long read, but well worth the effort.
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Monday, November 30, 2015
Weekly Reading List
Ari Ne’eman, Sometimes a Lion - November 30, 2015
What can I say? When Ari Ne’eman explains something it is explained, in crystal clear, easy to understand language. Here, he describes and explains the difference between “disparate treatment” discrimination and “disparate impact” discrimination, walks the reader through some sticky conflicts of accessibility and accommodation, and provides a balanced perspective on “reasonable accommodation” and “undue burden.” Along the way he manages to be very sensible about the difficult balance in disability advocacy between assertiveness and flexibility. This kind of thing is essential for newcomers to disability rights, and invaluable as a refresher for old-timers.
Lydia DePillis, Washington Post Wonkblog - October 23, 2015
This article is a little out of date, since the immediate solvency problem for Social Security Disability has been remedied, and a few reforms are on their way. However, the fundamental problems cited in the article remain. Overall, it’s a very detailed, balanced view of what’s wrong with income support for disabled people in the United States. That said, there are two issues I still feel are not sufficiently dealt with by advocates on any side. First, I don’t think there’s enough recognition that different disabilities do tend to suggest different kinds of employment outcomes for the people who have them. No disability is an absolute impediment to employment, but some disabilities make full self-sufficiency and consistent employment more difficult than others. Second, reform advocates are naturally reluctant to say what may need to be said. Any meaningful reform to encourage employment will probably cost the government more, not less, at least for awhile. I think it’s a fantasy for anyone to think that we can put massive numbers of disabled people back to work and thus enjoy instantly massive savings.
Shaimaa Khalil, BBC - November 27, 2015
Here’s a perfect example of a bona fide inspiring story that isn’t “Inspiration Porn.” I am really coming to think that the key difference is who’s doing the talking. When the narrator, writer, social media poster, etc. is talking admiringly about a third-party disabled person, or about other people being nice to a disabled person, it tends to veer into “Inspiration Porn.” When the disabled person speaks for him or herself, it feels different, less sentimental, more empowering and real. The content here is a bit sappy, and if someone else was saying them about her, I’d probably resent it. But hearing it from her directly makes all the difference.
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Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Weekly Reading List
Life got in the way yesterday, so I’m a little late with my weekly run-down of disability articles I read last week.
Sawyer Rosenstein, Boing Boing - November 23, 2015
Nightmare stories of disabled air travel often read like laundry lists of countless little screws ups that add up to one big fiasco. Somehow, the moral of the story never comes, or amounts to “Acme Airlines sucks” or “do better.” It’s hard to translate what on the surface seems like personal bad luck into prescriptions for systemic change. However, after reading this account, I wonder if there are any airlines or airports who hire full-time troubleshooters specifically for disabled passengers. It just seems like they have all of the systems and equipment needed, but half the time or more the people involved can’t seem to make them work in the right place and right time. Maybe that requires a staff person or two whose only job is to whizz around an airport as needed solving the logistical problems. They would have to have the recognized authority, of course, to compel all the other staff to cooperate. Is anything like this in place? Has anything like this been suggested?
Meriah Nichols, A Little Moxie - November 16, 2015
This blog post by one of the better-known disability bloggers attempts to dissect a rather “inside baseball” issue for the disability blogger community. What do we make of a website that seems to be trying in an admirable way to bridge the gap between people with disabilities and parents of kids with disabilities, aka, special needs parents? Can a disability-centered website do justice both to disability issues and the disability experience, and also provide a forum for parents of disabled people to share their innermost struggles and doubts? I admire “The Mighty” for trying, but like Meriah Nichols, I am often repelled by the results. There are some great articles by disabled writers, and some very good ones by parents. But there is just as much tear-jerking inspiration porn, and worse, disturbing articles where parents bear their souls and tell us … all of us … all of the ugly feelings and thoughts that run through their minds on the bad days. Like Meriah, I think there’s a place for that, but that the people who run “The Mighty” need to think more carefully about what they are doing. Intentionally or not, they have created a “space” where parents and disabled people meet, and it often reveals how big the gap can be between these two experiences. I think they need to do a better job of refereeing and reflecting on this gap, instead of just publishing everything and chalking up the clashes to ordinary differences of personal opinion. The other problem is that “The Mighty” is, in fact, mighty. It has a veneer of credibility and professionalism that gives it an outsized voice, and probably misleads casual readers into thinking it is some kind of authoritative voice on all things disability. In fact it’s something much more complicated and specific.
Marissa Stalvey, Curlability - August 6, 2015
Ingrid Tischer, Tales From The Crip - November 19, 2015
I have mostly given up trying to write a complete examination of “Inspiration Porn,” partly because I lost all of my notes and drafts in a cloud mishap, but also because lots of people are doing a good job of it themselves. These two articles dig into the question quite well, each highlighting different aspects of the phenomenon. On issue I think has still been under-discussed is the personal taste reactions people have to sentimentality. If I do pick up the topic again, that may be my angle.
John Hockenberry, The Takeaway - November 20, 2015
This is a great followup to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s excellent investigative series on disability segregation in Minnesota. Also, if you haven’t heard of or heard much of John Hockenberry, this edition of his radio show, The Takeaway, is a good opportunity to catch up with one of the most interesting and wide-ranging voices of the disability community. Hockenberry’s book, Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence, influenced me a great deal back when I was just entering the deep end of disability rights and independent living.
Where’s Your Dog? - November 9, 2015
I had trouble at first figuring out this blogger’s point of view on the #AbleistScript hashtag. Was he or she for it or against it? Obviously, for it, but with an understanding and interest in how others may perceive and misperceive it, especially non-disabled people. I think it’s perfectly fine for disability bloggers to say, essentially, “I don’t care what others think, this is for us, our community.” However, I also think it’s important for us to stay anchored to “mainstream” opinion, even when those opinions are inherently flawed and uninformed. And that’s what this blog post does. I’m going to read more from this blogger for sure.
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Sunday, November 22, 2015
Weekly Wrap-Up
This week in Disability Thinking:
Monday November 16
Tuesday, November 17
Wednesday, November 18
Thursday, November 19
Friday, November 20
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Monday, November 16, 2015
Weekly Reading List
Failing The Disabled (Project Overview)
Minneapolis Star-Tribune - November 8, 2015
Minneapolis Star-Tribune - November 8, 2015
There's only one link on this week's Weekly Reading List, because it will take you to a unified series of five articles by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, examining how outdated policies and practices in Minnesota affect the lives of disabled people there. It's a brilliant series, and we need to see more journalism like this all over the country. It is heart-rending, but not in the usual way for disability articles where you feel pity for the disabled people. Instead, you feel angry at the backwards thinking, bureaucratic laziness, and abject, ignorant fear that keeps these policies going. The series is a remarkable blend of no-nonsese investigative journalism and deeply emotional human interest, a combination rarely seen in disability stories. It IS possible to write emotionally resonant stories about disabled without lapsing into "inspiration porn."
I am massively impressed.
I would only add one note. The abuses and stupidities described in these three articles are products of bad systems, not just bad people. Please don’t think that group homes, sheltered workshops, and the like can be just fine, as long as you find just the right people to run them. Good people go in with great intentions, but the systems overrule them. They are flawed, and it’s time to abandon them, not keep trying to make them a little nicer.
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Sunday, November 15, 2015
Weekly Wrap-Up
This week in Disability Thinking:
Monday November 9
Tuesday, November 10
Wednesday, November 11
Thursday, November 12
Friday, November 13
Saturday, November 14
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Monday, November 9, 2015
Weekly Reading List
Caroline Mortimer, The Independent - November 8, 2015
The statistical aspect of this reminds me a bit of the panic over “skyrocketing” rates of autism, which are mostly due to better identification of autism that has always been prevalent. It’s unlikely that the actual rate of occurrence of hate crime has gone up 41 percent in one year. More likely that in the last year, reporting has gone up and maybe followup and record-keeping have improved. In a way, that’s good news. That said, it’s still a terrible problem, and hate crime against disabled people may, in fact, be on the rise. It’s hard to tell. I also wish the article had mentioned something about why people commit hate crimes against disabled people. I sometimes get the feeling that people writing about this leave out the content of peoples’ prejudices, because talking about their beliefs seems to endorse them. How can there be a “because” for something so terrible? I think there’s always a “because.” It’s probably a bullshit “because,” but people rarely do things for literally no reason. And knowing what people are thinking can help us fight and counter their thinking. Otherwise, we’re just condemning and groping in the dark for answers.
Karin Willison, Free Wheelin’ Travel Blog - September 4, 2015
Re: my comments above … I really appreciate Karin mentioning the reasons her school bullies gave for why they did what they did:
“ … the girls tried to blame me for being bullied. They said it was my fault because I looked weird and did things they thought were strange.”
Again, it’s a piss-poor reason, but it tells us something. It suggests, to me anyway, that some kids really can’t handle any kind of difference, and will latch onto anything they can to differentiate themselves and establish and ironclad pecking order. I’m know sure how that understanding helps, but it certainly makes it less personal, at least in retrospect. Maybe it also points to the reason why schools should spend more time getting kids to be comfortable with difference. That’s important, because there are lots of people who regard this effort as “political correctness” or “indoctrination.” I think it’s important to connect the dots between bullying and prejudice. It’s not just a kid thing, as Karin also points out in her discussion of more recent bullying she experienced online. On a side note, I wonder if bullying in online discussion groups is an indicator of a different problem … people who literally don’t know any other way to make an argument than to hurl insults?
Stephanie Woodward, Syracuse.com - November 6, 2015
This is my new favorite editorial against assisted suicide. It’s hard-hitting, but also humane. It doesn’t lean too heavily on a “slippery slope” argument. We are going to have to be good at explaining ourselves on this issue. Being in favor of assisted suicide is at this point a full-fledged part of the progressive policy agenda. I think that’s a big mistake, but I can understand why progressives tend to support it. It’s not that we have an opposite view, we have sort of a side view, a change the subject view. Progressive see it as a personal choice issue. We see it as an existential issue and a priorities issue … because there’s more intense support for people who want to die than there is for services that help people want to live. For the moment, I think the best we can do is keep raising the disability angle. People tend to forget the disability angle on just about everything.
Erica Curless, The Spokesman-Review - November 8, 2015
I posted this in the comment section of this article:
“This article raises some important issues for people to think about. However, one option isn't even mentioned ... gradually transitioning to a situation where Blaine is assisted by paid in-home staff. Since his father is, thankfully, relatively healthy, there is at least some time to do this. When he passes away, Blaine could then have 2 or 3 familiar staff who could see to his needs as his father does now. It would also allow his father to care for himself and get a bit of rest. The way it's presented in the article, the only choice for families of significantly disabled sons or daughters is a) provide total care, solo, forever, or b) put them in a nursing home. That's a false choice, and it would have been helpful if the article had informed readers that there are other options and models for long term, care.”
Tom Socca, Gawker - December 5, 2013
This article isn’t related in any direct way to disability issues. I re-read it last week because I made a mental connection between what the article describes as “smarm” and something I’ve been thinking a lot about, “Inspiration Porn.” Ultimately, I don’t think the two concepts match up very well. There’s a bit of an overlap, but not as significant as I imagined it might be. However, I do think Socca’s observations are very interesting, and may include important ideas to consider for Disability Culture. How much of the opposition we fight uses Smarm, and do we use Smarm too?
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Sunday, November 8, 2015
Weekly Wrap-Up
This week in Disability Thinking:
First, a bit further back, I went on a bit of a vacation …
Wednesday, October 28
And then …
Wednesday, November 4
Thursday, November 5
Friday, November 6
Monday, October 26, 2015
Weekly Reading List
In which I try to find a link between 5 very different disability-related articles from last week ...
Melissa McGlensey, The Mighty - October 21, 2015
Gillian Mohney, Good Morning America - October 22, 2015
Elizabeth Harris, New York Times - October 19, 2015
Daniel Bethencourt, Detroit Free Press - October 22, 2015
Valerie Strauss, October 25, 2015
I chose all five of these articles because they all feed into this feeling I have about how mainstream journalists and even some more specialized disability outlets cover instances of apparent disability injustice.
A key thing I think we all tend to miss is the role of directionless stupidity and incompetence. I really think disabled people suffer more from bureaucratic confusion, and from systems too complex for ordinary people to run effectively, than we do from ableism and discrimination. Every so often, we run into people who operate from fundamentally misguided ideas about disability, and people who just can't stand dealing with disabled people. More often, though, we deal with over-worked offices led by besieged managers who above all want a bit of job security and to get through a week straight without undue stress. They don't mean us any harm, but many of them long ago gave up doing us any real good.
A few seem to be especially rudderless dealing with people experiencing intense emotions, like the school principle who apparently couldn’t manage to say “Yes, of course let’s do it,” while explaining that the requested moment of silence would have to be carried out with due deliberation and care. How did such a simple situation get so out of hand? And I find myself sympathizing with the fed up Special Ed teacher, but also craving more concrete information on exactly what directives she is talking about.
This is all terrible, of course, but I think it's a different kind of problem from naked disability prejudice and outright corruption, which is how these incidents usually get covered.
For example, I would bet real money that in the Applebee's case, there was a miscommunication about overlapping responsibilities between the company and the state Vocational Rehabilitation program, which the Mighty article mentions but the Good Morning America story does not. It's a piss poor situation, but it may not have been anyone's intention to rob the worker, or to do so because they figured they could get away with not paying a disabled person. It may have been exactly that, but it doesn't look like anyone really tried to find out. If they did, we didn't get to know about it, and so we're left with the worst possible interpretation. All interpretations here are bad, but deliberately not paying a guy is worse than not realizing it's time to take over paying him from some other agency
At least the New York Times identified the real unfairness of the graduation story. At first, it sounded like a pissed off Mom on her high horse because her son failed ... by a fraction ... to graduate. The key isn't that he didn't get a diploma. The issue is that non-disabled students are allowed to graduate when their scores are on the borderline, but for some reason disabled students are denied that cushion. Maybe nobody should be allowed to skate by with test scores a point or two below passing, but if you're going to allow some people to do it, don't deny it specifically to disabled kids, some of whom really probably deserve a break when it comes to standardized tests. The story mentions this, but again, doesn't really emphasize it as much as the mother's anguish, which is real, but kind of beside the point.
I guess that sums up most disability journalism right now ... covering the story, but missing the bigger point.
Addendum: I forgot to mention that according to GMA article on the Applebee's flap, the company sent an apology, to the worker's parents. Did they apologize to him? This is going to be the subject of another blog post, I'm sure.
Addendum: I forgot to mention that according to GMA article on the Applebee's flap, the company sent an apology, to the worker's parents. Did they apologize to him? This is going to be the subject of another blog post, I'm sure.
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Monday, October 19, 2015
Weekly Reading List
Notes on last week’s reading …
Shaun Heasley, Disability Scoop - October 19, 2015
This is clearly a good thing, but in what sense? More jobs for disabled people is more jobs for disabled people. How many of the people who got these jobs would have gotten private sector or local government jobs if the federal jobs hadn’t been made available? I’m guessing quite a few, since the job market for disabled people is pretty thin. Plus, federal jobs have some of the features that disabled people value most, like job security and excellent benefits. And then there’s the commitment by the government to employ disabled people as a good in itself, a commitment that’s very rare in other workplaces. What I’d really like to know is how much of a dent does 100,000 newly employed disabled people make in the overall unemployment rate for disabled people?
Cheryl Green, Who Am I To Stop It - October 14, 2015
Thank God for Cheryl Green for stating the obvious, because for some reason it rarely gets said. Those two main models of how to understand disability are useful, but not doctrines. Mixing them is just fine, as long as you are thinking about what you are doing and what you’re trying to say. Disability activists need to say so more often, because people can get awfully uptight about the Medical Model / Social Model dualism.
Lane Harwell, Fox News Opinion - October 14, 2015
The article is fine, nothing radical, and the goal is worthy, but you can tell from the comments that it's out of place in a Fox publication. This man is encouraging arts organizations to include more disabled artists at all levels, but commenters hear this as a mandate forcing disabled people to participate in the arts. How they get that from the article is beyond me.
Emily Ladau, The Disability Dialog - October 15, 2015
This kind of thing rarely happens to me, but that's partly because I'm a bit of a hermit. More about this after the next article listing …
Bill Peace, Bad Cripple - October 14, 2015
I get impatient and judgmental of fellow disabled people's outrage at these predictable instances of ableism. Then I remember that if stuff like this happened to me half as often as it does for others, I would be in a constant state of fury. What people who complain about disabled people being cranky fail to grasp is that in most cases, the ill-temper they actually see in us is us being hugely restrained. And as I say, I forget this, too.
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Sunday, October 18, 2015
Weekly Wrap-Up
A light week at Disability Thinking:
Monday, October 12
Tuesday, October 13
Wednesday, October 14
Thursday, October 15
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