Sled Hockey Final: USA 1 - Russia 0

Gold Medal Game - Ice Sledge Hockey - Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympic Games

Congratulations to Team USA! It was an exciting game. And props to the Russian team that won a Silver only 4 years after establishing a team. A few more notes:

- I suppose he’s too busy messing around with Crimea, but I think it’s kind of an insult that Vladimir Putin didn’t come, at least to the Medal Ceremony, and sent his deputy instead. I wonder if Putin harbors old-style disability prejudice?

- The Paralympic-related ads were all very good, but there were only like 3 or 4 different ones that have been running in very heavy rotation. For the next Paralympics, they need more sponsors to make more different ads.

- It’s excellent that in the Medal Ceremony, some of the guys are in their wheelchairs, some are still in their sleds, while others are standing … I presume they are amputees wearing prosthetics. It’s a nice reminder that wheelchair users aren’t the only disabled people. The play by play commentator also mentioned during the game that some players are amputees, some paraplegics, and some have lifelong conditions like spina bifida.

Video Of The Day - "My Gimpy Life"

My Gimpy Life

Episode 8 - “Viral Superstar"

So, that's Season 2. It's hard to judge even a web series with so few episodes, but I enjoyed it. This final episode got into some fairly deep stuff about how people with disabilities are treated in the entertainment industry. And Episode 3's examination of "devotees" was hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time, as it is in real life, I suppose.

Everyone in this series is great. That said, I think my favorite characters this season were Teal 2, ("I'm Teal number 1 motherfucker!"), and Teal Sherer's roommate, Brent. He might even be the show's "breakout star", even though he doesn't have a disability.

What a treat to see Geri Jewell. I loved her "Oh, God" reaction to that bald producer guy,

The final shot of Teal looking out over Hollywood was gorgeous.

I hope Season 3 comes soon!

Winter Paralympics - March 15

Cross-Country Skiing - Live

3:30 AM Eastern

NBC Sports Network

Sled Hockey Final

USA vs. Russia

1:00 PM Eastern

NBC

Wheelchair Curling Final

Final four teams are Great Britain, Russia, Canada, China

6:30 PM Eastern

NBC Sports Network

Quote Of The Day

“I made a friend! I made a friend! Maybe there’s nothing wrong with me and I’m just a normal person!”

     -- Mark Corrigan, Peep Show

Friday Favorites

AmputeeOT

The Lego Leg video got me. This wasn’t Christina’s first video, but it is the one that went viral for awhile last year and drew a lot of peoples’ attention to her YouTube Channel.

Christina, “The Amputee OT” posts one video every week. Most of them fit one of three main themes:

1. Information on amputation and how prosthetic limbs work:

2. Demonstrations of how amputees do everyday things:

3. Cool or funny videos that reflect Christina’s personality. The “Lego Leg” video is obviously one of these, but here’s another of my favorites:

Christina recently passed the one year mark from her amputation. And although she may never produce new videos as compelling as the ones she did right around the time of her amputation, most of her videos are still interesting and entertaining. Ultimately, what makes these videos stand out from the scores of “vlogs” by other disabled people is that Christina is both an amputee, and an Occupational Therapist. She can talk about disability from “both sides” so to speak. Plus, she does have a great sense of humor, and a cheerful but matter-of-fact approach to her disability. She also seems to have become a sort of mentor to other amputees, which is great to see.

Disabled People Are Sexy

Is it empowerment or titilation? Maybe it's a little of both?

For me, the photos posted at Disabled People Are Sexy are mostly empowerment … even therapy. It is one of a handful of disability sites that have finally  changed how I view disabled bodies, including my own. To put it bluntly, I have looked at photos of disabled people with bodies as oddly shaped as mine, and found beautiful. That has changed how I view myself. I’m not all fixed in that regard, but having spent most of my adult life at “square one” so to speak, any progress feels like kind of a miracle.

Disabled Kitchen

The genius of this recipe collection for disabled people is that in addition to the usual measures and steps, each recipe includes information on how long it takes to prepare, the kinds of physical actions required, and how much stamina it takes. It also describes the tastes and textures of the finished product, for people who have different sensory needs. I hope this Tumblr blog expands someday into a full-blown reference website, but for now, browsing the recipes is helpful and enjoyable enough.

Bonus: Washington Post Wonkblog

This is a great website to visit if you want to know more about issues in the news, not about the politicians who are for or against various policies, but about the pros, cons, and probable effects of the policies themselves. Their coverage of the Affordable Care Act, (Obamacare), has been outstanding, and I have learned a whole lot about basic economic theories since I started visiting the site regularly. That, in turn, helps me understand certain aspects of disability policy.

There is one possible problem. Several of Wonkblog’s most prominent journalists, including founder and director Ezra Klein, have left the Post and are staring their own website with a mission similar to Wonkblog’s. The new site is called Vox, and it isn’t fully started yet. But if you visit, you can see some pretty nice presentations explaining what the founders hope Vox will do. So my recommendation is that if you are a policy wonk, or want to be one, bookmark Wonkblog and Vox.

Winter Paralympics - March 14

Snowboarding

3:00 AM Eastern

NBC Sports Network

Paralympics Day 7 Coverage

11:30 PM Eastern

NBC Sports Network

Paralympics Impressions

I watched a taped broadcast of the USA vs. Canada Semifinal Sled Hockey game today. It was fun. It was exciting. The USA won 3-0. They even showed some very brief highlights from other Winter Paralympic sports during the period breaks. All in all, I'm very impressed with NBC Sports Network's coverage. Even if I discount my "special" interest in the Paralympics, this is really better coverage than what we saw for the Winter Olympics.

Usually, media coverage of disabled people starts out empowering, and gradually backslides into sentimentality. It’s as if writers, actors, and commentators start out with good intentions, but can’t help themselves from falling back on the same old narratives, no matter who is being depicted.

With the Paralympics, it seems to go the opposite way. It feels like both announcers and the sponsors who write the accompanying ads featuring Paralympians, try at first to use the familiar sentimentality appeal. But they can't keep up the syrupy tone because the athletes are so capable, vibrant, and individual that they become full human beings despite efforts to pigeonhole them or make them faceless icons. Even when an ad series salutes Paralympic athletes for “defining themselves by what they can do, not what they can’t”, the actual athlete’s appearance and words are so inherently interesting and three dimensional that it becomes doubly clear how unnecessary that tired phrasing really is.

In fact, I would say that there is less sentimentality and cliché in the Winter Paralympics coverage than there was in the Winter Olympics last month. Maybe it’s because the athletes, themselves, steer things in a better direction. It is also possible that NBC Sports knows that the "tragedy to triumph" narratives they rely on to make the Olympics interesting to non-sports fans is problematic in a very particular way for disabled people. They still mention how each athlete became disabled, and when applicable, how getting involved in Paralympic sports helped them recover. But they seem to take care not to make these tearjerker stories. The stories come off instead as interesting and informative. We are left to decide on our own how and to what extent they are inspirational.

By the way, I never got the impression that any of the sled hockey players was "inspirational". They seem skilled, committed, and tough. The real narratives I picked up on were a bitter team rivalry between the USA and Canada, and the huge age range within Team USA ... from mid 30s to a 15 year old player who made two of the three goals.

In other words, the players' disabilities were the third most interesting things about them.

I'm anxious to see more!

Best Advice For Wheelchair Users Looking For Work

Demonically Disabled gives the best employment advice I have ever seen to a new wheelchair user:

"Ultimately, kill them with kindness and confidence. They won’t expect it. You are brilliant. You are disabled. And you are badass. Make sure they know it."

Read the whole thing. It isn’t long, and there are good specific ideas in there. It is beautiful and brief. I have nothing to add. That is all.

Shared Abilities: The ABLE Act - Worth Fighting For

Read my second blog post at Shared Abilities:

The ABLE Act - Worth Fighting For!

"I am sure we can all come up with other examples where money really can buy … if not happiness … then at least a better, easier, more independent life for a person with a disability."

Winter Paralympics - Thursday, March 13

Sled Hockey Semifinal (live)

5:00 AM Eastern

NBC Sports Network

Sled Hockey Semifinal

Noon Eastern

NBC Sports Network

I confess, I haven't watched any of the Winter Paralympics since seeing the Opening Ceremony. I don't know why. Each day there's something available to watch during the waking hours. I've been blogging the event times for others. I guess each day I forget and because the broadcasts are too short, the event is usually over by the time I remember. I even missed the Wheelchair Curling this afternoon ... Wheelchair. F-ing. Curling!

I am determined to watch the Sled Hockey Semifinal tomorrow though. If that turns out to be fun, then I'll try to watch whenever I can until the games are over.

Meanwhile, here's a link to the medal standings so far. Briefly, Russia is in first place, Germany in second, Ukraine in third, Canada is in fourth, and the USA is in ... 13th place with 4 Silver and 4 Bronze medals.

Photo Of The Day

From the Perks Of Being Disabled Tumblr blog.

Best Article On Sub-Minimum Wage

When Should Disabled People Be Paid Less Than Minimum Wage? Curtis Decker Says Never

Angelo Young, International Business Times - March 11, 2014

This is the best article I have ever read explaining the issue of sheltered workshops and the 14(c) certificates, which employers to pay certain disabled people less than minimum wage. In addition to underscoring what’s wrong with the practice, the man interviewed, Curtis Decker, does a great job of explaining why anyone still supports this. Here is an excerpt:

"IBTIMES: What do families think of their disabled relatives working in an environment where the employer determines the minimum wage in accordance to the Section 14(c) rules?

DECKER: Some want their disabled relatives integrated [working in a non-segregated environment for a private employer] and making at least minimum wage. But you have others who say, “Listen, leave it alone. It’s OK. She gets her social security check. She makes a little extra money. She gets out of the house every day. She’s not sitting at home watching television. I can go to work and this is a place she can go to. And you come along and want to disrupt this thing, you’re going to make my life miserable.”

IBTIMES: How do you answer that?

DECKER: I have to tell them that this isn’t about them. Our job is to represent the person with the disability. You can go into a sheltered workshop any day of the week and go up to workers and find someone saying they like the job, and that their friends are there. Like anybody else, you’ve been doing the same job for 10 or 15 years. You can’t make an informed decision if you haven’t experienced anything else. We would have the same issue when going into institutions – you find people who are asking you to get them out of there, and others who don’t know what the alternative is, or where you want to take them, or whether they’ll be separated from their friends if they get out."

I have just a couple of quibbles about the article.

Decker correctly points out that the biggest users and defenders of the 14(c) program are other disability-repeated non-profits. However, he fails to distinguish between old-line, paternalistic oriented service agencies and the more advocacy oriented, modern, consumer-driven disability organizations that don’t use the program or anything like it, and are fighting hard against it. That includes the National Council on Independent living and the hundreds of local Centers for Independent Living around the U.S., the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, the National Federation for the Blind, and the National Council on Disability. In fact, whether an organization supports or opposes sheltered workshops and the 14(c) certificates program is a good way to tell what kind of disability organization you are looking at.

I also think it is important in articles like this to remind readers that this isn’t about a handful of large corporations. There are similar sheltered workshop programs in large, medium, and small communities all over the country. One way to start working on this issue is check to see if your local disability agencies use the practice, or if they oppose it.

Other than that, I’d say this is essential reading for anyone with an interest in disability issues.

Winter Paralympics - Wednesday, March 12

Wheelchair Curling, USA vs. China (live)

1:30 AM Eastern

NBC Sports Network

Paralympics Day 5 Coverage

3:00 PM Eastern

NBC Sports Network