Journalist – Historian – Speaker
In general in disability journalism, I’d like to see us emphasize needed accommodations over diagnoses. In other words, what do people with disabilities need over what they “have.” Here’s an example. I titled this blog post “for kids with sensory issues,” but I’m referring to a piece actually called “Museum Opens Doors, Turns Down Lights …
Basic principle: The fight for basic economic justice for everyone is the fight for better lives for people with disabilities. #SOTU4PWD — David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) January 21, 2015 Yesterday President Obama mentioned “Americans with mental illness or physical disability” as part of his long list of inclusive terms. This is not my preferred language. …
Last week I wrote about a new bill in Indiana that forbids disability-selection and sex-selection abortion. The latter almost never happens. The former happens all too often. The combination is an attempt to do two things: 1) split the pro-choice and disability rights movement and 2) gain support for abortion restrictions by nominally pro-choice individuals …
Yesterday I had a piece in the Motherlode blog of the New York Times. I talk about the ways that parents of kids with disabilities are shamed when their children act in atypical ways. And I argue that this shame matters – that it drives parents to isolate and works against my goal of an …
Two years ago, tonight, three off-duty deputies moonlighting as mall security killed Ethan Saylor. They killed Ethan Saylor by forcing him to the ground, fracturing his trachea. They killed him because they couldn’t figure out how to deal with a large, cursing, man with Down syndrome. They killed him because no one in the theater, …
Welcome back (to me! You probably didn’t go anywhere). For the forseeable future, my blog posts will generally be of the shorter variety. I’m trying to get a few tens of thousands of words into my book manuscript. As soon as I have news (like, say, a publisher sale), I will tell you much more …
Yesterday, Ismaaiyl Brinsley made an incendiary Instagram post, shot his girlfriend, traveled to NY area, killed two police officers, and then killed himself. The simple narrative is that this was about Garner and Brown. Melissa McEwan and others would like us to keep all three victims in mind, and perhaps that complicates the narrative. In the meantime, …
A few days ago over on my Facebook page I shared the story of the school district that took away a blind child’s cane and replaced it with a “pool noodle.” The cane technically belongs to the school district, and when the bus attendant reported that he was waving it in the air and potentially …
In Elle, Alissa Quart has a piece she calls The Hypereducated Poor. It explores the adjunct crisis by looking at the life of a Chicago-area professor, Brianne Bolin. She teaches composition. She has a son with cerebral palsy named Finn. I’ve met them both as we live in the suburb of Brookfield, though until this …
On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) took the case of Sheehan vs San Francisco. In 2008, Sheehan, who has schizophrenia, threatened her social worker with a knife, then threatened the two police officers who came after. They called for backup. Before backup arrived, the police broke into her apartment, pepper sprayed her, …