Photo Of The Day

From the Disabled Dilemmas Tumblr blog.

President Bartlett Has MS

For some reason I’m still up, and watching episodes from the first season of The West Wing. Purely by chance, I’ve hit on the first episode to reveal that President Bartlett has a serious health condition, which later will turn out to be Multiple Sclerosis. The first hint comes through the President fainting, and later his wife Abby, a medical doctor, rushes home and tends to him herself. It’s a very sweet, tender, funny scene, but also messed up, because you can see they’re keeping some sort of secret. Then there's a heartbreaking conversation between Abby and Leo McGarry, Bartlett's Chief of Staff.

The MS storyline paid some great dividends throughout the series, and included some fairly positive representations of disability. Nothing too radical, with a few conventional cliches mixed in from time to time, but more good than bad.

Photo Of The Day ... Wheelchair Bound

From a Pinterest page ...

"A satirical look at the phrase "wheelchair bound", courtesy of wheelchair-user Nic Steenhout. Disabled people find the use of "wheelchair bound" inaccurate and offensive. Use it? better to loose it."

This is the best "wheelchair bound" photo I've ever seen. I'm amazed there aren't more like it floating around the Internet.

* I should have given clearer credit to Nicolas Steenhout (@vavroom), who is in the photo and blogged about it, and to Lynn Pope (@elpie), who took the picture. Sorry about that!

More Shit People Say ...

This AmputeeOT video is similar to the “shit academics say about access” video I posted last Saturday.

I feel like a lot of non-disabled people … and quite a few disabled people, too … disapprove of this kind of thing. It’s ill-tempered and bitter. It’s mean to make fun of or get mad at well-meaning people who just don’t know what to say or how to say it. We should be patient with people who don’t know everything about disabilities. We should be good ambassadors, and educate people.

Yes, obviously, people saying we’re inspirational is a *good* thing. We do get that. And people asking sometimes stupid questions doesn’t mean they are stupid or massively ignorant. We do get that, too. But, we hear these exact things so often, in exactly the same situations, using exactly the same words, that once in awhile we have to vent about it a little. Really, 99% of the time we don’t say anything at all. We play by the rules and, if we’re really brave and have a lot of tolerance on a good day, we try to teach people a little bit, refine their understanding. Just a little bit mind you, because the only thing more sensitive to criticism than a disabled person is a non-disabled person who’s said something stupid about disabilities.

And no, it’s not all in our heads. We’re not imagining the ableism we hear. If someone came up to you and gave you a completely out of the blue, out of context compliment … well, the first time it might make your day. But by the fifth or tenth time, I promise you, you’d say to yourself, “What the hell?” There’s something going on here besides simple kindness.

I submit that under the circumstances, poking a little fun at the “shit people say” about disabilities is the least harmful, most productive response we can make.

Blogging Note: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Blogging will be light for the rest of this week. I’ll post pictures and links to interesting articles and blog posts if I find them, but mostly I’ll be working on a “looking back” post as I approach the first full year of Disability Thinking. What has succeeded? What’s fallen flat? What have I learned about the disability experience. What aspects of Disability Thinking do I want to change in 2014?

“American Girl” Petition … Followup

Yesterday, I posted the video from Melissa Shang, asking people to sign a petition urging “American Girl” to add a doll with a disability to its collection. Today I read a fantastic article that has a lot more to say about this:

Doll Diversity Isn’t Just Child’s Play

Emily Ladau, Words I Wheel By - December 30, 2013

The only dolls I ever had were a teddy bear and, briefly, a GI Joe. So, all I really know about dolls is what I’ve picked up drifting around the popular culture atmosphere. Emily’s article beautifully underscores why creating a disabled “American Girl” doll would be so great, and why it matters how they do it, if they do it.

Wheelchair Santa ... Followup

A commenter has found a pretty good Wheelchair Santa picture. Works for me!

Disability In India

Disability in India: The struggles of infrastructure, prejudice and karma

Monica Sarkar, CNN - December 27, 2013

I’m honestly not sure whether this article accurately describes how disability is perceived in India, or whether it’s a mix of a few individual Indian’s viewpoints and westerner’s interpretation of Indian belief. I am struck by how similar the ideas presented are to American views of disability. Our ideas a bit fuzzier and softened by careful language. We don’t believe in Karma quite as literally. But we do still make judgements about people with various disabilities. We do choose some disabled people for praise, and ignore others. And we do sometimes forget that money and prior social status can make life with a disability much easier to negotiate, even if it’s never quite easy, and acceptance is rarely complete.

"American Girl" Petition

I admit it. I signed this petition asking American Girl to make a doll with a disability because this kid is so cute. But I also signed it because I was frankly amazed that American Girl doesn’t have a disabled American Girl doll already. Click here to sign the Change.org petition.

I first saw this on the hellomynameismaddy Tumblr blog.

Weekly Wrap-Up

Monday, December 23, 2013

• Holiday Conversations
• Photo Of The Day

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

• Families That “Get It”, And Those Who Don’t

Thursday, December 26, 2013

• Wheelchair Santa

Friday, December 27, 2013

• 5 Disability Television Moments Of 2013
• Photo Of The Day

Saturday, December 28, 2013

• Sound Familiar?

Sound Familiar?

I found this video at the Disability and Representation Facebook page. The owner also has a great blog of the same name that’s well worth reading.

Some of the “shit” lines in it are just as familiar in settings other than academia. I think it’s the earnestness of the phrases that smacks of a uniquely academic variety of smarm. Also, there's a tone of condescension, of knowing better, that seems to go with people who are used to thinking of themselves as more enlightened than the average person, no matter what the subject.

Photo Of The Day

From the Disabled People Are Sexy Tumblr blog.