Journalist – Historian – Speaker
In September I wrote about a mentally-ill man who was shot at by police for not listening. He ran into traffic in Times Square so they shot at him. Well, today he was charged as responsible for the people that the police shot. “The defendant is the one that created the situation that injured innocent …
Not what my family looks like A few weeks ago I offered my philosophy on inclusion, illustrated with a picture of Nico dancing in the middle of a circle of musicians. I called it “inclusion, not same-ness.” Sometimes, inclusion means people with disabilities get to do things that not everyone can do. Sometimes inclusion means …
Autism Speaks is a highly successful and controversial autism awareness group. Here’s the critique from the feminist website “Tiger Beatdown” that made me aware of the problems first. I’ve tried to spread awareness of these issues ever since, but I often see celebrities, thinking they are helping, supporting Autism Speaks. To me, they are like …
Looking back over the week’s writing to think about my round-up, I was immediately drawn to Wednesday’s post on offensive language. There are, I think, ideas here worth exploring. I started with the principle: You do not get to decide whether I should be offended by something you do or say; you only get to …
Here’s my principle on language and offense: You do not get to decide whether I should be offended by something you do or say; you only get to decide whether you care. Here’s what I mean. Someone uses language I find offensive. I call them on it. They cannot decide for me whether it’s ok …
I’m at a convention and in a hotel with the whole family. Leaving home with the kids is exhausting so I’ll be brief today. But while in the restaurant with my children, I had this thought (again. I’ve had it before): When you see children acting terribly in public, do not judge. It’s not that …
I’m always very skeptical of the story “boy/girl with special needs allowed to do normal sports thing” stories. And if you don’t know what I mean, you don’t obsessively follow mainstream news about kids with disabilities! This might be a good thing for you. I just feel that often these events become tokens of inclusion, …
About a month ago, I discussed a story about more than reasonable accommodation in Heathrow airport for a young man with autism. The article reads, in part: The 21-year-old has severe autism and obsessive compulsive disorder, but has to negotiate the hectic bustle of Heathrow airport to attend Boston Higashi High School in the US. …
My post is late today because I rose at 6 to drive to Springfield and see a student of mine, David Gayes, be named a “Lincoln Student Laureate.” The student in question, in my class, wrote brilliantly about theology and disability. His essay became a presentation at our research expo, then won our top essay …
Imagine you are walking down the street listening to music. Police see something about you that they don’t like. They are behind you though and call on you to stop. You can’t hear them. What happens next? I’ve written cases in which Deaf people experience just this – the police feel disrespected and they react. …