Thursday, December 19, 2013
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Kinda Christmas, Kinda Disability ...
This is only barely a Christmas song, and even less a clear disability-related song. Yet, some of the lyrics and the whole vibe of the song reach me as a disabled person in a way I can’t quite explain. Am I the only one?
P.S.: Ooops. I posted this back in June as well.
P.S.: Ooops. I posted this back in June as well.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Photo Of The Day
From the Lego Cuusoo website.
This is a sort of Kickstarter-type site for proposed Lego designs. Models that get 10,000 votes or more are reviewed by Lego quarterly, for the chance to be developed as an official Lego product. Please log in and vote for the "Accessibility Set"!
Monday, December 16, 2013
About That Interpreter ...
Elizabeth Weise, USA Today - December 13, 2013
I have put off commenting on the story of the fake / bad Sign Language Interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. It seemed like the story changed every half day or so, getting stranger and more politically messy at each step. At this point, it seems like there are several intersecting issues of justice, politics, bureaucratic incompetence, and racial politics involved, in addition to the obvious insult to Deaf communities in South Africa and around the world. However, this USA Today article might be a good place for most of us to wrap up our involvement in the story. However it happened, it sure seems like this was a failure to follow some well-established standards and procedures for Sign Language Interpreting, which is a profession, not an art or a charity.
I would only add that in the United States, though the standards are well-established, they are not yet well known, and hospitals, courts, and workplaces too commonly employ “interpreters” who are just as “fake” as that man in Pretoria last week.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Weekly Wrap-Up
Monday, December 9, 2013
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Friday, December 13, 2013
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Old Arguments and Disability Studies
Girl With The Cane - December 14, 2013
“... people that need that wheelchair ramp to be clear in order to get into the business didn’t ask for the disabilities that make a wheelchair ramp a necessity, and their money is just as good as everyone else’s. Business owners need to ask themselves if they can afford to potentially turn clientele away.”
This is the most widely used argument … aside from adherence to accessibility codes … for making businesses accessible to people with disabilities. For a long time, particularly in the years immediately following the Americans with Disabilities Act, it was a new, almost radical argument. Accessibility isn’t about compassion for the disabled, it’s good business! I still think it’s a very good argument today. The trouble is, I don’t think we really know how good an argument it is. Where are the studies showing not just the potential economic clout of disabled people, but the difference it makes for real businesses when they are or aren’t accessible?
Do disabled people and their families, in fact, shun establishments that aren’t accessible? Are elderly people in significant numbers conscious of accessibility as a distinct issue, in a way that affects their decisions about where to shop and eat? What about other variables, like the age of buildings, downtown vs. urban sprawl locations, and type of business? Are businesses with affordable prices more, or less likely to be accessible? Do accessible businesses tend to be “high end” and expensive? How much can a business actually benefit from improving accessibility? How significant is the loss if they don’t?
I’m not suggesting that the answers to these questions would change our objectives or lessen our commitment to accessibility, but some updated facts might change our tactics, or our understanding of why business people think the way they do about people with disabilities.
Emma Tracey, BBC News Ouch! - December 3, 2013
“One of my concerns with disability studies degrees, is that most of what people are learning about can't be turned into concrete knowledge to improve the general public's understanding of disability. It seems to be very much about phenomenology and post-modernism, which pass most people on the street by."
My questions above reminded me of this piece I read on the BBC "Ouch" website, which includes an interview with Richard Reiser, an Englishman who is both familiar with and critical of "Disability Studies". I think it's the first time I've heard a credible disability activist articulate an essential question I've had for awhile about Disability Studies ... What, exactly does Disability Studies study? And, does it study any of the questions I, as a disabled person, am interested in? We've been using the same arguments and statistics (more or less) that we've been using in discussions of accessibility, economic influence, employment and the like, since at least the early '90s and probably before. It would be helpful if university-based programs whose job is to "study" "disability" would delve into these practical questions, along with the cultural and philosophical pursuits the field is known for.
For all I know, there may be lots of studies by Disability Studies scholars on the psychology of disability discrimination, the economic status of disabled people, what HR professionals really think about hiring disabled people, why disabled people seems of be fair game now for accusations of fraud or laziness, and how disciplined people with disabilities are in fighting for our rights in the marketplace. But if such studies exist, I haven't seen them, and I've been looking.
For all I know, there may be lots of studies by Disability Studies scholars on the psychology of disability discrimination, the economic status of disabled people, what HR professionals really think about hiring disabled people, why disabled people seems of be fair game now for accusations of fraud or laziness, and how disciplined people with disabilities are in fighting for our rights in the marketplace. But if such studies exist, I haven't seen them, and I've been looking.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Don't Let Us Happen To You!
Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty - December 12, 2013
I haven’t been feeling well today, but I’m a little better now, so I’ll just do this quick post.
The article above concerns one of those disability prejudice incidents that are easy to recognize and be outraged over. There’s a person we can be mad at … an enormously privileged and possibly ridiculous person to boot. The problem is that people with disabilities are cast as punishments in cautionary tales all the time. Usually, it’s when there’s some other goal being discussed that has nothing to do with us. We function as a convenient example of what can happen with things or wrong, or when people misbehave.
Doesn’t if feel great to be of use?
Thursday, December 12, 2013
“Pick Yourself Up …"
After I finally started walking, which was when I was 3 years old, my mother at some point told my older brother that she couldn’t let me go outside to play by myself, because when I fell, I wasn’t able to pick myself up again. Ian, who I’m guessing was 17 years old at that time, took me outside in the yard and by watching how I moved in various situations, where my strengths were, and my various ranges of motion, figured out a way that I could get myself up to my feet without help. That’s Occupational Therapy right there … kind of like Christina’s demonstration of standing up on an icy surface with a prosthetic leg. This is another childhood milestone I don’t actually remember, but it sure sounds right. And I know for sure that it meant a lot to Mom.
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