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Monday, March 17, 2014
Another Rant On Positivity
Michael Rothman, ABC Good Morning America - March 17, 2014
Oh dear, oh dear.
“Only true disability is in our minds”. Not this again!
During the Winter Paralympics, Amy Purdy was one of the handful of highlighted athletes, and one of I think only two how had ads made around them and played in heavy rotation. She seemed pretty cool to me, and never said anything clichéd or superficial about being a double leg amputee snowboarder. The “feel good” aspect of her story as she told it was mainly her love of snowboarding, which caused her to keep asking doctors during her hospital stay, when she could snowboard again. That was a very individual thing about Amy Purdy, and not some non-specific brand of positivity extrapolated to all disabled people.
Which is why I was so disappointed to see this platitude attributed to her. So, I read the article, and I don’t see anywhere in it where Purdy actually says that the only true disability is in our minds. Mostly she says positive but grounded things I can’t argue with, including recognizing the fact that on “Dancing With The Stars”, she will be the novice and will have to learn from her partner. In the Duracell ad embedded in the article, she says, ""When disease took my legs, I eventually realized I didn't need them to lead a full, empowering life.” That’s quite a different thing to say and a lot more meaningful than, “The only true disability is in our minds”.
Did she say it or not? Or, was it something a headline writer had rattling around in his or her brain and just threw out there?
Why do I care?
First of all, it is simply not true. When you are a double leg amputee, it is not true that the only disability is in your mind. As I have written before, having a defeatist or lazy mindset can certainly be an additional disability, and a positive attitude may be a prerequisite to success, but missing two legs is a disability in and of itself. It doesn’t have to be a terrible thing, but it is a thing, not a state of mind. As I expect Amy Purdy would agree.
Second, this kind of dime store spirituality is a pet peeve of mine. On the one hand, it’s a meaningless platitude … well-meant and probably harmless. On the other hand, it connects with a very definite ideology that some find therapeutic, but I think does harm in the long run. This is the idea that actual, physical, concrete circumstances can be overcome by the proper mental attitude. No income and no job? Resolve that you deserve your dream job, think positively about it every day, and it will happen. Have a serious physical impairment? If you don’t think like a disabled person, then nothing can stand in your way.
The real harm comes with the converse. Disabled people who aren’t successful have their own attitude to blame. They've given up. They're too angry. They obsess over their condition and what they have lost. They use their disability as a "crutch". How ever it's phrased, it is the disability version of victim blaming.
Maybe this is a twisted way of reading a nice idea. Maybe it’s never intended to be a back-handed scold. Trust me, when you are disabled and faced with multiple intractable barriers, especially external ones, while a successful disabled person says that success is all about attitude, the message comes through loud and clear.
Again, attitude is important. It is a factor, and can either empower you or create additional problems for you. But perhaps more than any other “disadvantage”, disability does insist on itself. You can’t regrow a limb through determination. Spinal cords are not regenerated through daily affirmation. Disability exacts a price. For many of us, the price is manageable. For some, the price changes from day to day, month to month. For others, the price is very high, and it takes positivity, and adaptation, and cooperation, and a more just society to cope.
If Amy Purdy really said “The only true disability is in our minds", I hope at some point we can know the context. Among elite athletes, everyone has roughly equivalent physical gifts … even disabled athletes. In athletics, mental attitude really can make the difference between victory and defeat ... between a medal and anonymity. But that’s why disability sports are tremendously fun and exciting, but of limited teaching value in terms of most of our everyday lives. Snowboarding on two prosthetic legs is pretty amazing, but it requires a very different set of skills and personal qualities than landing a good job when you wheel into your interview. It is tempting to make comparisons, but we should be careful about it.
In the end, whether Purdy said this or not, the sad thing is that she said so many other great, insightful things that would have made much better headlines. It seems like most journalists have an unerring instinct for latching onto the most comforting, optimistic, simplistic things disabled people say. The fact that it often happens to be bullshit doesn’t seem to matter.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Winter Paralympics Results
And the top 3 countries are:
1. Russia
2. Germany
3. Canada
The United States came in 8th place.
This doesn’t quite convey the whole story, because Russia’s first place is by miles. They won 30 gold medals. The next highest, Germany, won only 9 golds, and on down from there. I don’t know much about the development of Paralympic sports, but the result does baffle me. Is it just because Russia could send more athletes tan anyone else, do the Russians devote more resources to Paralympic sports? It’s remarkable when you consider the fact that in 1980, when the Soviet Union hosted the Summer Olympics, they declined to host the Summer Paralympics as well. Was that a reflection of how Russians at that time viewed disabled people? Have disabled peoples’ status in Russian culture improved that much since?
And, for all our supposed leadership in disability matters, the US seems to have underperformed. Is this one of those instances where we just assume we’re ahead of the curve, only to find out that lots of other countries have quietly progressed further than us?
I will certainly be paying closer attention to the next Paralympics … the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Disability Thinking Survey
A little less than a year ago, I set up a survey to get feedback on ideas for an expanded version of “Disability Thinking”. The site is still mainly just a blog, but I haven’t given up on expanding, so here is another survey. The main thing I want to find out is what people want to see in a multi-featured website by and for people with disabilities.
Please take a few minutes to complete the survey. I would really appreciate it!
Note: Make sure you scroll down and click the "Next" button after giving the first set of answers. Thank you!
Note: Make sure you scroll down and click the "Next" button after giving the first set of answers. Thank you!
Weekly Wrap-Up
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Friday, March 14, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Sled Hockey Final: USA 1 - Russia 0
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!
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!
Friday, March 14, 2014
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
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
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.
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