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.

5 Disability Television Moments of 2013

These aren’t be the best or the worst … just the most notable disability moments I saw this year. What did I forget?

1. Flynn (Walter, Jr.) finally steals a scene or two on “Breaking Bad”.

Flynn did more in the last three episodes of “Breaking Bad” than he did in the entire rest of the series. First he physically defended his mother Skyler, from his father Walt’s attack. Then he arguably delivered the definitive condemnation to Walt in a phone conversation where he utterly, definitively rejects Walter’s efforts to reconcile. Flynn was woefully under-utilized for almost the entire run of this excellent series. Still, his disability was never either masked nor over-played. A different writing team might have made Flynn's disability the main motivation or excuse for Walter White's escalating greed. In the end, keeping Flynn on the back burner so long may have made his confrontations with Walt that much more powerful. Whatever. It was just so cathartic for me to see Flynn not only turn against his father (about time!), but physically defend his mother in a way that looked very realistic for someone with exactly his kind of disability. It wasn't like his disability magically disappeared. He basically had to throw himself between Walt and Skyler, then use his arms and crutches to back up against Skyler, all while facing Walt. And, of course, whipping out his cell phone and dialing 911. It was the opposite of elegant stage fighting, but brutally realistic.

2. Great moments for the “Asberger" characters on “Parenthood” and “The Big Bang Theory”.

Both of these shows give us depictions of people with Asberger Syndrome that are sometimes problematic and simplistic. However, there were moments of real insight this year in both shows. On "Parenthood", Max started to emerge as a real person, rather than a bundle of funny / aggravating tics. Also, I felt like I saw glimmers of a subtext suggesting that Max's parents are more messed up and selfish regarding Max than Max is himself ... even though extreme self-centeredness is supposedly his defining characteristic. As for Sheldon on "The Big Bang Theory", the scene where he and Amy talked about the nature of their relationship more than made up for another season of cheap laughs at Sheldon's expense.

3. Small parts for wheelchair using characters on “Orange Is The New Black” and “Sleepy Hollow”.

These two shows couldn’t be more different, but each introduced a part-time or short-term character in a wheelchair. Interestingly, both were female, African-American teenagers. Both were balanced, realistic characters who contributed to their shows’ plots without overwhelming them. Both were fun to watch, and more or less empowering. And because they were minor characters, they were pleasant surprises.

4. The “Ironside” remake’s failure to thrive.

It should have been a landmark, a breakthrough for depictions of wheelchair users. It could have been a true "reimagining", like "Battlestar Galactica", with deeper characters, compelling story arcs, and a distinct visual style. Instead it played like a generic procedural that happened to feature a cop in a wheelchair. I'd love to see Blair Underwood reprise his Ironside role as a guest on other cop shows. I really think that might work better than trying to build a whole show around the character as it was written.

5. Success (well, survival) for “The Michael J. Fox Show”, but does t matter?

I stopped watching after the fourth episode, out of pure apathy. It was okay, but just okay, in a year when there were great shows of all kinds, every night. The disability messages were good, but it feels like they have said all there is to say about Parkinson’s Disease, which leaves just a dated sitcom about enormously privileged, atypical people living in Manhattan.

Wheelchair Santa

Yesterday I Tweeted that I’ve been looking for a good “wheelchair Santa” picture for years. Then it occurred to me that I’ve never actually just done a Google Images search. Surely, I’ll find something good, right?

Well, there were a lot of pictures, about half of which could be properly described as related to the theme of Santa Claus in a wheelchair. But seriously, this is the most on on topic picture I could find, and it’s awful. Santa's in a wheelchair all right, but he’s grumpy! He’s a grumpy, bitter, cripple Santa. Thanks a lot. It’s good to see that kind of positive disability representation in a beloved cultural icon.

On the bright side, there’s clearly an opening for a fun, interesting, or empowering photo or illustration of a wheelchair Santa. Let’s get on that, shall we? We’ve got a year 'till next Christmas.

Families That "Get It", and Those Who Don't

On Monday I wrote about holiday conversations about disability with family. I hope I didn’t leave the impression that I have lots of complaints about how my family deals with my disability, because I’ve been very fortunate on that score.

My family have never been either sentimental or critical about whatever’s going on with my disability. "Fortunate" really is the word, because I’ve come to understand that there is a very wide range of familial attitudes towards someone’s disability. Some families are downright sick and hostile in their approaches, and even good intentions don’t guarantee good results. I suppose that’s natural. Rightly or wrongly, disability is still generally viewed as a misfortune at some stage … whether at birth or after illness or accident. Some types of disability also for some reason invite the creation of all kinds of crackpot theories and beliefs … from the causes and proper “treatment” of autism, to distant hopes for repaired spinal cords, to doubts about the substantive reality of invisible conditions like chronic pain and depression. Sometimes it seems like we are forever swimming up a swiftly flowing stream as we try to asset positive, realistic understandings of our disabilities.

Then, just as we begin to lose hope, we again encounter friends and family who just naturally “get it”, without needing awareness campaigns or disability studies classes or long, awkward, exasperating conversations. Good for them … God bless them if that works for you. They also prove that disability acceptance is not, after all, that difficult, unnatural, or counter-intuitive. Some people get there on their own. My family does, which makes me very glad, but also impatient all over again about the other families that don’t, and seemingly won’t, understand.

I’m thinking today about all the other disabled people who read this blog, or my Twitter feed and Tumblr blog, for whom family time is not happy, not supportive, not restful. I hope you all find ways to have a happy, safe, empowering day regardless.