Powerful, On-Topic Music Video

I saw this on AmputeeOT’s Facebook page. Really beautiful and powerful.

P.S.: I'm a bit slow on the uptake with some kinds of music, so it took me a little bit to figure out that this is a home-made lip-sync video of a song by Pink. I'm even more impressed.

P.P.S.: The young woman in the video is Krystal, and she has some other good videos on her YouTube site about her below knee prosthetic.

Website Changes

I’ve made some changes to the blog over the last few weeks. Here’s a list, with an invitation to look around and give me some feedback on what you like, what you don’t like, and what you like seeing on other disability blogs.

- I added my picture and rewrote the blog description, both of which you’ll find a the top of the right-hand column.

- I cleaned up and updated my list of Disability Blogs, found lower down in the right-hand column.

- Tabs at the top of the blog, just under the title banner, for my other pages, including an About Me page, and the beginnings of a list of Resources on disability-related issues. Also, you will find collections of all the disability-related Video and Photos I’ve posted, with links to original sources where applicable.

- Please take a few moments to vote in two polls, near the bottom of the right-hand column. One asking how you are connected to disability issues, the other asking what kinds of social media and other Internet services you use regularly. It helps me to have an idea of what my readers are looking for, and whether I should do more with other platforms, like Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, etc.

More changes are probably on the way, because tweaking the settings and adding widgets has become something of a nervous habit. It’s also a nice way to “do something” with the blog when I can’t think of something to write!

Weekly Wrap-Up

Sunday, January 12, 2013

• Why “Special Needs”? … Followup
• Disabled “American Girl” Doll … Followup

Monday, January 13, 2013

• Two Things To Read Today
• Photo Of The Day

Tuesday, January 14, 2013

• Shopping While Disabled
• Photo (Picture?) Of The Day

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

• Nothing Is Worse

Thursday, January 16, 2014

• Customization!
• Photo Of The Day

Friday, January 17, 2014

• Photo Of The Day

Saturday, January 18, 2014

• The Derrick Coleman Duracell Ad
• Disability On Downton Abbey … Nerdy Followup
• People Just Don’t Know
• Music For A Saturday Evening

Music For A Saturday Evening

People Just Don't Know

City Newcomer Is Let Down by a Stranger, Then the Police

Michael Wilson, New York Times - January 17, 2014

A disability activist in the heat of the moment might say that both of the things that Frederick Brennan suffered … the robbery and being stranded in a snowstorm … were crimes. I don’t think that would be quite right. However, I really wonder which of these two misfortunes was more harmful to Mr. Brennan. That might be too close to call. 

The article reinforces what I think is a very major theme in everyday ableism. People just don’t understand the logistics of living with disabilities. My guess is that it never occurred to the police involved that getting to their station and back might be extremely difficult … or perhaps impossible … for a guy in an electric wheelchair. I’ll bet that when the officer called for the bus, he figured his job was done … not realizing how often lift-equipped buses are late or never come. Not realizing that an immediate response accessible transit vehicle is basically a unicorn, especially in New York City. And if he didn’t make those mental connections, then he didn’t have a chance to wonder if a young man, new to the City, might be extra vulnerable when that City was in the midst of an epic snowstorm.

By the way, I found the comment from Mr. Brennan’s boss interesting. There’s a blame-the-victim tone to what he said about Mr. Brennan being unwilling to ask for help. Underlying the comment is another common, and faulty assumption … that there is always help available and ready to serve, we just have to ask for it. Sometimes that’s true, and a lot of us do probably wait too long before asking. But just as often, asking for help results in bewilderment and sudden bouts of catastrophic incompetence, in which cases we are no better off logistically, and twice as pissed off.

Most of the modern, western world still doesn’t know how to deal with significantly disabled people. That’s a fact of life for us, and a fact that most people don’t really realize.

Disability On Downton Abbey … Nerdy Followup

A week ago, I posted about the different ways that the hit TV show “Downton Abbey” uses and depicts characters with disabilities. I’m happy to say that the piece got me my very first “Internet Honor”. I am now, officially, “Cousin Andrew”.

You see, at least half of my enjoyment of “Downton Abbey” comes not from watching the show, but from listening to a podcast about the show after each episode. The podcast is “Up Yours, Downstairs” - [Facebook Page]. As the name suggests, husband and wife podcasters Tom Schneider and Kelly Annaken love the show, but have a keen appreciation for how ridiculous it can be. So, their episode recaps are very snarky, and tons of fun. That said, at the right times … like what happened to Anna in last week’s episode … Kelly and Tom’s emotional responses are very real and heartfelt. It’s a great combination.

Kelly and Tom refer to their listeners, collectively, as “Cousins”, because of the important role that Cousins have played in the plots of “Downton Abbey”. At the start of each podcast, they read “Telegrams” (emails) and “Carrier Pigeons” (Tweets) from “The Cousins”, and name one of the writers “Cousin Of The Week”. After I posted about “Downton Abbey”, I Tweeted about it to Kelly and Tom (@5maggiesmiths). They, in turn, talked about it on their next podcast, and gave a very kind endorsement … concluding by naming me, “Cousin Of The Week”.

It’s a silly thing, but as a longtime listener and “Downton Abbey” fan, I was thrilled.

By the way, Kelly and Tom have occasionally made some astute comments themselves on the disability aspects of “Downton”. Most memorably, in their very first podcast, recapping the very first “Downton” episode, they commented that the naked prejudice against Bates’ disability demonstrated the need for the Americans with Disabilities Act. I was impressed that they, a. knew about the ADA, and b. made the right kind of connection with one of the least understood parts of the ADA, the employment discrimination sections.

So, cheers to Kelly and Tom, from Cousin Andrew.

The Derrick Coleman Duracell Ad

I’m sure all you football fans have seen this ad dozens of times already. My high school friends in Washington State probably know it backwards and forwards at this point! But do read this great discussion of why and how this is such a rare and valuable exercise in disability awareness:

The New Derrick Coleman Duracell Ad Gets It Right

Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg, Disability and Representation - January 17, 2014

For myself, I just want to underscore how brilliant and crucial it is that Colman first identifies his disability not as a hearing impairment, but as other peoples' inability to communicate with him.

Photos Of The Day

From the just an occupational therapy blog, via the Disability Aware Tumbr blog.

Click here to read a description of their wedding.

Customization!

The Art of Designer Artificial Limbs

Roc Morin, The Atlantic - January 15, 2014

"With these prostheses, Sophie enables her customers to conceal their absences and blend in. But the artist also caters to another kind of clientele: amputees wanting to stand out.”

There is definitely something important about disabled people who think to “trick out” their adaptive gear … their prosthetic limbs, their crutches, their braces, their wheelchairs. After visiting dozens of websites and blogs per day for over a year, I get the sense that it’s mostly people who would be into tattoos and brightly dyed hair whether they were disabled or not. What I really wonder is whether it works at all to encourage people new to disability to think about personalizing their stuff. This could be adults who become disabled and are in the early to mid rehabilitation process, or kids and teenagers with visible disabilities who might be agonizing over the stigma of being different. Customizing adaptive equipment can be a tremendously liberating thing, giving people a way to embrace their disability and make it a coherent part of who they are … not some foreign addition at odds with their self-perception.

Photo Of The Day

From the Disability Fashion Project Tumblr blog.

Nothing Is Worse

Department of Justice probe finds thousands of disabled R.I adults ‘segregated’ in state programs

Lynn Arditi and Linda Borg, Providence Journal - January 15, 2014

Fuck this shit.

I don’t think there’s any aspect of the disability rights / disability policy world that makes me angrier than when people with developmental disabilities are herded like cattle into sheltered workshops and “day programs”, where they either waste away on entirely useless, easily managed pursuits, or help produce products that actually are sold in the real economy, while making sub-minimum wage.

Look, it’s entirely true that just because a disabled person is capable of performing a job, doesn’t mean a job can always be arranged for him or her. But in theory, nobody in our cutthroat economy has as much individual support and coaching available to them than people with developmental disabilities. Yet, so often that help is, in fact, theoretical. Why that is, I still don’t know, and I’ve been observing it … admittedly on the margins … for over 20 years.

In some ways, it’s too bad it takes a Justice Department Civil Rights ruling to shake up these complacent setups. Better ideas and better practices are all out there, in full and effective use. All these musty institutions have to do is embrace them. On the other hand, since change doesn’t seem forthcoming through other avenues, I’m extremely grateful that the U.S. Justice Department is pursuing these cases aggressively.

It can’t happen soon enough.

Photo (Picture?) Of The Day

From the Rolling Through Life Tumblr blog.

Shopping While Disabled

Disabled shoppers deterred by difficult high street experience

Rebecca Smiters, The Guardian - January 14, 2014

There’s nothing surprising in this report about the barriers disabled people in the UK encounter trying to shop in the “high streets” of their towns. It’s the same here in the United States. But I was struck by the clarity of the article, and its focus. In a strange way, not having to mention the Americans with Disabilities Act helps keep attention on the actual, practical problems that deter and exclude people, rather than just debating whether this or that practice violates the law. I still think well-crafted anti-discrimination laws and accessibility codes are important, but sometimes they distract us from simply noting exactly how customer service sucks for disabled people.