Happy Holidays! I’ll be taking a blogging break from now until the weekend after Christmas.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Short Blogging Break
Happy Holidays! I’ll be taking a blogging break from now until the weekend after Christmas.
Monday, December 22, 2014
Best Article On The ABLE Act
Justin King, New America Foundation Weekly Wonk / Vox.com - December 19, 2014
Large kudos to Vox.com for posting the best article on the ABLE Act I have ever read. It accurately describes the problem the ABLE Act was designed to address, properly notes that the new law will probably help, but also explains the new law’s shortcomings. It seems like everything else I have read in the last couple of weeks has been either a completely uncritical fluff piece on how awesome it is that Congress passed the ABLE Act, or bitter and somewhat over the top denunciations of the law’s last-minute limitations. This article even describes exactly how the law itself is a better deal for higher income than lower income families and individuals … something a few Tweets and blog posts alluded to in dire tones in the lead-up to passage, but rarely explained.
Beyond this particular issue, I think it’s really important for the disability activist community to encourage high-quality reporting from mainstream news and opinion outlets on disability policy. Most disability stories come off as journalism-lite … lots of sugary flavor and zero calories.
(Hat tip to the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network).
(Hat tip to the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network).
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Weekly Wrap-Up
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Monday, December 15, 2014
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Friday, December 19, 2014
Sunday, December 20, 2014
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Stella Young Memorial
Melissa Davey, The Guardian - December 18, 2014
A memorial event for Stella Young was held on Thursday, December 18, in the Town Hall of Melbourne, Australia.
I don’t have anything to add really. Just watch the videos.
Nelly Thomas
Graeme Innes
Stella Barton
Friday, December 19, 2014
Turtle - Lego - Wheelchair
This video and the story behind it has been making the rounds of disability blogs for a couple of weeks now. I finally watched it and I have say, it's worth sitting through all the German for the eventual payoff. It’s cool as a still picture, but even cooler on video.
Thursday, December 18, 2014
New Facebook Page
I just set up a separate Facebook Page for the Disability Thinking blog and the Disability.TV podcast. The “Facebook” tab at the top of the blog now leads to the new, dedicated page.
Now is probably a good time to remind readers that Disability Thinking has four distinct outlets. Here are the links:
The Boy With The Cane. Or, What The Heck Is A "Pool Noodle"?
Fox2 Now St. Louis - December 17, 2014
So, first I had to look up what a “pool noodle” is. Turns out it is a long, thick, semi-flexible “stick” made of squishy styrofoam, used as a toy or perhaps a sort of float by kids in swimming pools. Looking at pictures of “pool noodles”, I can see right away what the school staff were thinking. It’s long and semi-rigid, so it could, in theory, provide some of the sensory feedback of the canes used by blind people. At the same time, it is made of a material that can’t really hurt anyone, even if used as a deliberate weapon. I’d bet real money that there is at least one person at that school who really, honestly thought they had come up with a brilliant solution to a perceived disciplinary problem.
Of course, one suspects that the “problem” was either overblown or nonexistent. Dakota’s parents say it was all a misunderstanding … that the bus attendant might have seen him raise his cane and assumed it was to hit someone.
To me, this isn’t the issue. Dakota is still a young boy. It’s entirely possible that on occasion, he’s used his cane in questionable ways. It’s also possible he’s still learning how to control his cane, and not accidentally bump it into people or trip them up. The point to me is that the school should have a more thoughtful set of guidelines and procedures for how to deal with Dakota if he should misbehave, as most 8-year-olds misbehave from time to time. And a central tenet of any disciplinary plan should be to never take away an assistive device a child depends on for independence and mobility. This would apply to canes, crutches, a speech device, a wheelchair, or any other equipment that helps them with their particular disability.
It seems to me that part of the formula for kids like Dakota should be some sort of peer counseling “real talk” where someone he trusts … maybe a blind adult ... tells him, as a friend and ally, that assistive devices should never be used as weapons or to cause mischief. Teach disabled kids that they have an absolute right to their devices. They are not revokable privileges like a cell phone. But they also have a responsibility to use and look after their devices with great care. That seems like an essential bit of “growing up” that disabled kids, in particular, have to do. In a way, it’s part of learning self-advocacy.
As a side note, I found it kind of appalling that apparently, the cane was supplied by the school, which is one of the excuses the school used for taking it away. I suppose it’s good they provided the cane, if Dakota’s family can’t afford one, but also reminds me of all the ridiculous angst some school administrators go through over fears that school-provided assistive devices will be “misused” … including being taken home. Especially with something like a cane, whoever pays for it ought to just give it to the person who needs it, with no strings attached.
Update: Via @SFdireworlf, Dakota's school district apologized for taking his cane away. 1. I hope the district also agrees on a disciplinary policy that excludes confiscation of adaptive devices, and 2. I hope Dakota gets a cane of his own.
Update: Via @SFdireworlf, Dakota's school district apologized for taking his cane away. 1. I hope the district also agrees on a disciplinary policy that excludes confiscation of adaptive devices, and 2. I hope Dakota gets a cane of his own.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Just Stop It
I was just visiting a new adaptive product and services website and I noticed some interesting language and branding choices. The website is named “Ethos Disability”. The URL is ethosdisability.com. From context, too, it's clear that the site’s common denominator is disability.
Yet, in the About section and elsewhere on the site, the owners always refer instead to “additional needs” or “additional / changing needs”. I suppose this is yet another effort to solve the non-problem of how horrible the word “disability” is. At least the actual topic is identified elsewhere. Otherwise the site would be really offensively vague … a sort of nudge-wink non-acknowledgement of what we’re really talking about. Which, to me, puts a lot more negative connotation on disability than “disability”.
Just stop it. “Disability” and “disabled" are fine.
By the way, it Ethos Disability really does look like a promising new website.
Disabled TV Character Face-Off: Fourth Round
President Josiah Bartlett beat the original Chief Robert Ironside in the third round.
The fourth round features Geordi LaForge vs. Tyrion Lannister. Which character do you like best?
Actor: LeVar Burton
Disability: Blindness.
Role on the show: Major character in ensemble cast.
Actor: Peter Dinklage
Disability: Little Person.
Role on the show: Major character in ensemble cast.
Monday, December 15, 2014
Long Term Care ≠ Nursing Homes
Sarah Kliff, Vox.com - December 14, 2014
Sarah Kliff, who is in my opinion one of the very best journalists on the health care beat, has a very interesting article at Vox.com about how countries pay for “long term care”. Those of us with disabilities and related to disabled people certainly know what a mess it is, but sometimes we don’t know why, and non-disabled people mostly don’t have a clue. Worse, it seems like even the social democracies of the developed world, who usually do human services better, don’t have long term care figured out either.
I hope we get a followup article to this one, because unfortunately, the article equates “long term care” with “nursing homes”. The title says it’s about paying for nursing homes, but the article is about long term care. They aren’t the same thing. Nursing homes is one model of long term care. Others include agency-based and consumer-directed home care, “assisted living”, “retirement communities,” and probably other models, too. It is very dangerous to keep equating the problem of long term care with it’s most outdated, expensive, and, frankly, most hated solution … institutionalization in nursing homes.
In fact, the woman who’s story Kliff cites, a woman with paralysis “from the waist down” is far more likely to need home care than a full-time nursing home. Plenty of people paralyzed “from the neck down” live in their own homes, too, with visiting care and personal assistance. In most cases, this more targeted type of care is at the same time less expensive and less restrictive. The CLASS Act, which Kliff also cites, would have helped with home care as well, and the Community First Choice program is helping in several states as we speak.
Again, this is all stuff that means a whole hell of a lot to people with significant disabilities, and virtually nothing to everyone else … even though it should be common knowledge to everyone. I hope to see more of this kind of work from Vox, and a bit more care in defining the scope of definitions and discussions.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Weekly Wrap-Up
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Friday, December 12, 2014
Friday, December 12, 2014
Question for the Disability Community
Please share your answers in the comments below.
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