Disabled TV Character Face-Off: Third Round

Dr. Gregory House beat Dr. Kerry Weaver in the second round.

The third round features President Josiah Bartlett vs. Chief Robert Ironside. Which character do you like best?

President Josiah Bartlett

The West Wing

Actor: Martin Sheen

Disability: Multiple Sclerosis.

Role on the show: Lead character of the show.

Chief Robert Ironside

Ironside

Actor: Raymond Burr

Disability: Paraplegia.

Role on the show: Lead character of the show.

Voting in round three will stay open for two weeks.

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Weekly Wrap-Up

Keeping it brief this week ...

Sunday, November 9, 2014

• It’s Just Creepy

Monday, November 10, 2014

• Losing A Teacher

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

• The Credibility Conundrum
• Veterans Day

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

• The Independence Inversions

Thursday, November 13, 2014

• Season 1, Episode 7 Of "Red Band Society"

Saturday, November 15, 2014

• Disability.TV - Ep. 16 - The Big Bang Theory

Disability.TV - Ep. 16 - The Big Bang Theory

Sheldon Cooper’s mom may have had him tested, but that doesn’t stop Sarah Levis and I from discussing the now-familiar question of whether The Big Bang Theory’s breakthrough character is, or is not a disabled character, and whether his portrayal is a positive or negative influence on how people view autism and Asberger’s Syndrome today. More than with any previous podcast, I welcome comments and disagreements, especially from listeners who are autistic. You can email me at apulrang@icloud.com, leave comments on the Disability Thinking blog, or send an audio file … whichever you prefer. And please do let me know whether or not its okay to include your comments in an upcoming podcast. You can find my guest, Sarah Levis, at Girl With The Cane, and on Twitter @GirlWithTheCane.

Subscribe at iTunes or Stitcher.

Make a PayPal donation on the main Disability.TV podcast page.

Season 1, Episode 7 Of "Red Band Society"

‘Know Thyself’: Reality Checks

Gotta Watch It! - November 13, 2014

This week, everyone on ‘Red Band Society’ got a rough but arguably overdue reality check, the viewers included.

The Independence Inversions

If you need a lot of help with everyday self-care, then you're not safe and home care agencies won't serve you. If you need less help, then you may not qualify for home care at all.

If you have family around to contribute to your care, then you'll get less home care. If you don't have any additional support systems, then home care doesn't want to take responsibility for your safety and may refuse services altogether.

Veterans Day

My maternal grandfather, Carroll Dana Fearon, was an ambulance driver in Italy during the First World War, serving in the United States Army Ambulance Service. He was in basically the same outfit as Ernest Hemingway, in a conflict that started 100 years and 3 months ago.

Grandpa was deaf. I think, though I’m not positive, that he lost much of hearing during the war. For all of the time I knew him, he used a hearing aid that worked reasonably well, and I don’t think he ever learned Sign Language. However, his hearing loss was noticeable to others, and I’m sure that while he was a highly functional and successful businessman, being deaf was something he had to consciously grapple with every day.

Grandpa Fearon died 1987, when I was 20 years old. I wish we had overlapped a few more years, so that I could have talked with him more about his war experiences and how he felt about his own disability. I bet he could have told some stories about the disabilities he saw imposed in such massive quantities by a modern, mechanized war fought with strategies that were already out of date in the Civil War.

The Credibility Conundrum

If you are disabled, then your judgement and objectivity can't be trusted. On the other hand, if you demonstrate sound judgement and express sensible ideas, then you must not be truly disabled, which means that your ideas about disability aren't relevant to actual disabled people.

Losing A Teacher

"Remembering Lucy Gwin”

Steven E. Brown, Disability Visibility Project - November 10, 2014

“Mouth” magazine was one of my first introductions to disability culture and what we might roughly term “radical” disability philosophy, back when I was a new staff member at a Center for Independent Living. Along with the somewhat similar “Disability Rag” / “Ragged Edge", Lucy Gwin’s “Mouth” is where I discovered that disability rights and awareness are about more than a few ramps and superficial acceptance. In the newsprint pages of these two pre-Web journals, I learned:

- Why, exactly, nursing homes and other institutions are terrible, not just distasteful. They not only rob residents of their full humanity, they are an outdated, inadequate, and inefficient way to meet the needs of elderly and disabled people who need some help with everyday tasks. I first read well-researched details about all this in the “Mouth”.

- How the experiences of physically disabled people are similar to those of cognitively or mentally impaired people … surprisingly similar to me, at the time when I read about it.

- The various “Catch-22” traps all sorts of disabled people face daily … For example: Either you’re too disabled to be trusted to run your own life, or you aren’t disabled enough to get services you need to function with the disabilities you do have.

- That truly horrific injustices happen all the time to disabled people, not just small indignities and embarrassments.

- That the sheer absurdity of ableism is it’s key weakness, and laughter is one of our most effective weapons.

The “Mouth” was one of my textbooks, which I guess means that Lucy Gwin was my teacher. I suspect there are hundreds, maybe thousands of other disabled people, and allies, who can say the same. I’m so sad that she’s gone.

It's Just Creepy

Disabled Toronto comedian catches strangers' shocking comments on tape

Josh Dehaas, CTV Toronto - November 8, 2014

It's an interesting comparison I kind of wish I'd thought of ... catcalling or "street harassment" of women, and the staring, gaping, and weird comments disabled people get out in public.

I suspect that both stem from roughly the same thing ... the unregulated impulse to look at a person who "stands out” somehow and blurt out a variation on, "Wow, look at that!" I chose those words deliberately. I think that when this happens, to women and to disabled people, we are not hes or shes, we are THATS. We are pieces of scenery, curiosities. That's what makes it galling.

One key difference is that in catcalling, the man usually wants the woman to hear, while most people who are rude to disabled people in public spaces try to hide it. No matter. It feels shitty either way.

To be clear, it doesn't matter what people say. The problem is the presumption by total strangers that it's okay engage with us in a way they wouldn't with other strangers. It's much the same with men catcalling women. "Smile, honey!" is friendly on paper. In person, tossed at you by a total stranger, it's creepy at best. So is, "Hey, little man!" from someone you've never met or even seen before.

(Via Girl With The Cane’s Facebook Page)

Weekly Wrap-Up

Well, Two-Weekly, Actually ...

Sunday, October 26, 2014

• Home Care, Overtime, & Unintended Consequences

Monday, October 27, 2014

• Bullying

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

• Blogging Note …

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

• Another Blogging Note ...

Friday, October 31, 2014

• Disability.TV Podcast - Ep. 14 - Ironside (2013)

Monday, November 3, 2014

• Brief Update

Friday, November 7, 2014

• Season 1, Episode 6 of “Red Band Society"

Saturday, November 8, 2014

• Disability.TV Podcast - Ep. 15 - Mini-Cast

Disability.TV Podcast - Ep. 15 - Mini-Cast

In this Mini-Cast I, fish for feedback, check on who’s listening to the podcast from where, and once again appeal for hosts to talk with me about disabled characters on TV shows. Plus, all about the Disabled TV Character Face-Off!

Email comments to: apulrang@icloud.com.

Subscribe at iTunes or Stitcher.

Make a PayPal donation on the main Disability.TV podcast page.

Season 1, Episode 6 of “Red Band Society"

'Ergo, Ego'

Gotta Watch It!

We pick up immediately after the last scene of the last episode. Nurse Jackson has just switch Coma Boy’s blood sample. Now she’s carting a crate full of blood samples down the hall, each step bringing her closer to the point of commitment, when she hands over the samples and leaves behind any possibility of changing her mind.

Brief Update

The last few days in disability world has mostly been about:

a. People incorporating wheelchairs into elaborate Halloween costumes, and

b. People killing themselves or allowing loved ones to be killed, legally, because “compassion” or “dignity” or something.

I’m still working on a thing, so it may be Wednesday before I post anything more substantial.

P.S.: If you are a U.S. citizen, please vote tomorrow ... especially if you live in Texas. And remember the candidate in a wheelchair isn't necessarily the one who's best for disabled voters.