Journalist – Historian – Speaker
Pat Robertson says many inane, stupid, and/or offensive things. This is not news. I just want to point out the way that anti-disability language emerges out of a certain kind of religious discourse. There’s an idea that links disability to sin, that thinks of it as a punishment from God. It’s an old idea, though …
I am travelling today so this will be a quick hit and I’ll have more to say about the lawsuit on Sunday. The Saylor Family has filed a lawsuit. Here’s an article from the local Frederick, MD, paper. Here’s an interview with Ethan’s mother, Patti. Here are some thoughts from Mark Leach, a blogger and …
Last week Maureen Wallace wrote an excellent article surveying, as she puts it, the “good, bad, and wacky” in “Marketing” Down Syndrome. You should all go read it. I have, of course (for those who read me often), mixed feelings about the marketing of Down Syndrome. In general, I’m happy to see awareness, visibility, and …
It’s possible that I am a cynical, grumpy, overly critical, person. I accept that criticism ahead of time. This may come off as a little bit of a rant. Blogs are good for ranting. Ranting is good for the soul. Here’s my take: The unbearable cuteness of kids with Down Syndrome is real. It’s fun …
One of my concerns with the language about disability and violence, whether domestic, in institutions, or in public, is an easy tendency to link the violent outcome to the disability, rather than focusing on the perpetrator of the violence. Such rhetoric doesn’t tend, or in I think intend, to excuse the violence, but it does …
This is Down Syndrome Awareness month. I will have more to say about awareness as the month goes on, as I’m thinking hard about how to defend the utility of “awareness.” The real problem is that it is, by grammatical nature, passive. To be aware. A lot of parents, like me, are skeptical about the …
In an uplifting story, here’s how Heathrow responds to a young man with autism who regularly flies from England to Boston to attend school. 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. To cater for …
Last week, when I wrote about Barilla and Nico’s diet, I said that what I really wanted as a fulsome apology and a vow to do better, rather than Barilla’s non-apology apology (where he lurched from anti-homosexual rhetoric to sexism). It seems we have one. Here’s the video in English. It has an acknowledgment of …
The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a …
Apparently there’s a new show on Netflix called Derek. I haven’t watched it. Who has time to watch that sort of thing in between parenting, working, writing, cooking, cleaning, gardening, sports, cooking shows, and all the other things that fill up my life. Apparently, though, it features a lead character who is unbelievably good and …