Recommended: Excellent CRPD Information

A Time Line of the Campaign for U.S. Ratification of Disability Treaty (CRPD)

Andrea Shettle MSW, Rambling Justice - Updated July 22, 2014

This is by far the best thing I have seen so far explaining the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and providing everything an advocate would need to help push for ratification.

I would also like to give a qualified, cautious endorsement of @FightingCRPD, a Twitter feed satirizing the beliefs that have prevented the CRPD from being ratified. It is satire, right? RIGHT?

The Guaranteed Income Idea

A guaranteed income for every American would eliminate poverty — and it wouldn't destroy the economy

Dylan Matthews, Vox.com - July 23, 2014

I wonder how many disability policy problems would be solved or simplified if every American 18 or over could start each year with, say, $20,000 of guaranteed income? As Dylan Matthews points out, the idea is probably politically infeasible, and for a lot of people morally upsetting, but it’s not economically impossible.

From a disability perspective it would not only give all of us a firm … but not lavish … base to work with. It would also eliminate a lot of the anguish over eligibility we go through to get support. If everyone got a guaranteed income, it wouldn’t matter whether or not we have someone else’s conception of a “qualifying” disability. We might need to prove greater, more specialized need if we needed services in addition to income, but for many of us, that wouldn’t be necessary.

Thoughts?

T-Shirt Of The Day

From the Writers Inkorporated Tumblr blog, via Cripple Fabulous: Hell On Crutches.

Recommended: Hashtag & Podcast

Maddie Ruvolo and Emily Ladau, who started a new podcast yesterday, Disabled Girls Talk, also started a great Twitter hashtag: #BecauseOfTheADA. This morning they posted a Storify page showing some of the resulting Tweets.

If you are the Twittering kind, why not keep the hashtag going? Also, be sure to listen to Disabled Girls Talk. In Episode 1, "Generation ADA", Maddie and Emily discuss what it has been like for them to grow up with disabilities in a post-Americans with Disabilities Act world.

Weekly Wrap-Up

Sunday, July 13, 2014

• Maria Bamford

Monday, July 14, 2014

• A New Disability Show, Maybe?
• Buy It: The Revolution Was Televised

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

• Oh, Weird Al …
• Video Of The Day

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

• Digging Up Disability History
• More On The CRPD

Thursday, July 17, 2014

• Open Thread

Friday, July 18, 2014

• Two Bills To Fight For
• “Criptiques” & “Criptionary”

Saturday, June 19, 2014

• ADA 24th Anniversary
• Guest Post at the Disability Visibility Project: The ADA - Three Disappointments, Three Victories

Guest Post at the Disability Visibility Project: The ADA - Three Disappointments, Three Victories

I am very excited to have a guest blog post on the Americans with Disabilities Act, at the Disability Visibility Project website.

Guest blog post: The Americans with Disabilities Act: Three Disappointments, Three Victories

by Andrew Pulrang

Big thanks to Alice Wong, of the Disability Visibility Project for inviting me! I highly recommend following her on Twitter: @SFdirewolf.

ADA 24th Anniversary

24 years ago today, President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. Here are some videos to help you celebrate!

"Criptiques" & "Criptionary"

Criptiques Podcast Episode 3: Maria Palacios

Caitlin Wood, Criptiques - July 23, 2014

There's another great "Criptiques" interview out! Follow the link above to hear Caitlin Wood interview poet, performer, and disability activist Maria Palacios. Someone should really collect writings from all of these amazing people Caitlin is interviewing, into some sort of book. Oh, wait ...

During the interview, Catilin and Maria refer to Maria's book, "Criptionary". I haven't read it yet, but I have read a few sample definitions from the book, and they're hilarious.

If you want to know a little more about the book before you buy, visit the "Criptionary" Facebook Page.

Two Bills To Fight For

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD):

I regret sounding overly pessimistic about the CRPD the other day. Andrea Shettle, who has been keeping the Internet up to date on the CRPD left a comment that basically encourages everyone to keep the pressure up, and remember all the legislative barriers the disability community has faced and overcome in the past.

Objections to the CRPD are, in fact, ridiculous. It’s mainly a tiny sub-group of voters who hold these beliefs about how it would affect U.S. sovereignty or home schooling. One reason they stick, though, is that the vast majority of Americans aren’t even aware that the CRPD exists. If more people knew what it was, and heard exactly what has kept it from being ratified, they would be disgusted. So, tell your friends! Bloggers, tell your readers!

Meanwhile, you can click here to contact your Senators … especially the ones who are “on the fence” at the moment, or who voted "no" in the past.

The ABLE Act:

I wrote about the ABLE Act for Shared Abilities a few months ago. The bill has been active again this week, so Shared Abilities’ CEO, Julie Steckel, reposted my piece on her Facebook page.

I also recommend reading this more recent article on the ABLE Act,l on the MSNBC website. 

The bill still seems to be promoted mostly as a solution for parents of disabled children, which it is … but that’s not all it is. It is worth remembering some key aspects of the ABLE Act:

- In addition to being tax-free, ABLE Act savings accounts would allow people with disabilities to set aside savings above $2,000, up to $100,000, without losing eligibility for benefits like SSI and Medicaid.

- Savings could only be used for disability-related goals, not everyday living expenses. However, these funds would be more flexible and less restricted than Special Needs Trusts or PASS Plans.

- The law would also allow self-directing adults with disabilities to set up and manage their own accounts, without needing a third-party trustee or manager. They could accept gifts from others to build their accounts, but also deposit some of the money they earn in jobs, which would then not be counted as monthly income, helping preserve benefits eligibility. This would help reduce work “disincentives” … the common situation where people with disabilities hold back on work and promotions because they can’t afford to lose key benefits.

The ABLE Act has broad, bipartisan support in Congress. It looks like it is on a path to being passed in the House and Senate in September. In a situation like that, the most valuable thing for advocates to do is to contact their Senators and Representatives and urge them to keep up the pace. The bill seems unlikely to face opposition, but even a popular bill can fade from apathy.

Call your members of Congress. Don’t let them forget about the ABLE Act!

Open Thread

I am going to be very busy today with life stuff, so I thought I’d try an Open Thread. This is where a blogger publishes a post without actual content, purely so people can discuss whatever they want in the Comments section of the post. I’d like to keep it disability-related, but obviously that covers a lot of ground, so … what’s on your mind? Add your comments below!

More On The CRPD

Return of the GOP Dung Beetles

Anne Laurie, Balloon Juice - July 23, 2014

Here is a mainstream take on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. By mainstream I mean not from a disability advocacy group. It is, obviously, from a fairly liberal, Democratic blog. Still, liberal blogs don’t always quite get the point on disability issues, even when they're on the right side. This post doesn’t say much about the disability aspect, but it does, correctly I believe, identify the real problem, which has nothing whatever to do with disability, and everything to do with right-wing, “black helicopter” paranoia. I hate to be pessimistic, but how do you fight that?

Digging Up Disability History

Living With Disability in the Dark Ages

Elizabeth Picciuto, The Daily Beast - July 22, 2014

"The moral arc of the universe may indeed bend toward justice, in disability as in race, gender, and class—but that arc doesn’t flow smoothly: It contains many hills and valleys.”

I have seen several versions of this story about the skeleton of a person with Down Syndrome, dated to the 5th or 6th century A.D. Most of the references present as established fact the idea that because the child was buried the same way, with the same burial rites as others in her clan, it shows that people with Down Syndrome were fully integrated, valued members of their communities, even in the “Dark Ages”. Even though this article acknowledges how little we really know about ancient attitudes towards disabilities from such sparse evidence, I still find this new evidence tantalizing.

A few years ago, one of the first audiobooks I listened to was History Of The World, Updated, by J. M. Roberts. In one of the early chapters, Roberts mentions that archeologists had found the prehistoric remains of a man who appeared to have had a physical impairment. Yet, he also appeared to have died fairly old. Roberts speculates that the man probably had to be sustained by his clan, and indeed, this man, too, seemed to have been buried surrounded by gathered flowers and nick-nacks … indicating that the people of that age were more than just beasts that looked human. They were, just maybe, compassionate and sophisticated in their understanding of human value.

At the other end of the historical scale, the article refers to the fact that in the 1800s, people with disabilities were quite often integrated into their communities, and only separated and institutionalized later, during the “Progressive Era”. In fact, how the well-meaning “progressives" of the early 20th century dealt with disability is an important reminder of how good people throughout history often get things wrong … sometimes terribly wrong … and confuse altruism and charity, with prejudice and condescension.

Were institutions and "state schools" for disabled people created to protect us from society's harshness and cruelty? Or, were they really meant to get us out of the way, out from under foot, so to speak. Probably both.

Finally, I think again of my favorite disabled person from history, the Roman Emperor Claudius, who historians believe had cerebral palsy and epilepsy. We will probably never know exactly how extensive his disabilities were, or the degree to which he was stigmatized. Yet, once again the shreds of evidence are tantalizing.

I would like to know more about disability in ancient and prehistoric times. Does anyone know of any other studies, articles, or books on the subject?

Video Of The Day

Via the CP and Me - A Tale Of A Trex Tumblr blog.

“Inspirational”? Technically, yes … although that word is so cliché and inadequate that when applied to a disabled person, it’s borderline insulting. It reminds me of when a certain era of “liberal” white people would compliment a prominent African-American, like, say, actor Sidney Poitier, by calling him, “a credit to his race”.

Sorry, just a grumpy aside.

This is amazing and it about blew my damned mind. I especially liked seeing how she handled needing some help, and how that was depicted.