Journalist – Historian – Speaker
It’s primary day in New Hampshire and later I’ll be observing a new tablet-based system for disabled voters. In the meantime, I now know who the best candidate is for disabled Americans. No-one has done more for people with disabilities than me. I have spent many millions of dollars to help out-and am happy to …
This is a small sample of the 60 or so higher education job ads I found that contain clauses at least potentially excluding disabled applicants. Look for words like “occasionally,” “may,” or “frequently” as ways to avoid violating the ADA. However, disabled applicants, like all marginalized peoples, are less likely to apply for jobs when …
The discourse around Zika has included a constant barrage of ableist language in which reproductive rights advocates suggest that a disability like microcephaly naturally means a mother would want to terminate. There clearly is a problem with access to reproductive choice, but I always maintain we can make that argument without implying that disability equals …
Shared by many of my friends, this is a sad, but important, articulation of the ways that oppressive forces intersect in individuals who have more than one marginalized identity. While over half of children who identify as LGBT have experienced homophobic, biphobic or transphobic bullying, this drastically increases among disabled LGBT people.A survey found that …
.@JessicaValenti sigh. I hate to say it. But disability rights would be nice to hear. Just once. — David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) February 2, 2016 This tweet came in response to Clinton’s Iowa speech, in which she said: I know we can make college affordable and get student debt off the backs of young people. …
I am basically opposed to puzzle narratives/metaphor when it comes to disability. I think it suggests that things are broken or disordered, and that it’s possible to snap everything into shape and make it nice and neurotypical. On the other hand, the new research into Schizophrenia is pretty interesting. Summary here. Original here behind paywall. …
UPDATE: The Arc of Texas has changed their job requirements to remove “physical and mental requirements” entirely from the list. UPDATE 1/29/16 – Please see Kyle Piccola’s comment from The Arc of Texas in the comment thread. Archived at the bottom of the thread for record-keeping purposes. Original Post Below ———————————————————————- As of January 15, …
Michael Marshall is the latest victim of the Cult Of Compliance. Last November Marshall, who had schizophrenia, was placed into prone restraint and died, choking on his own vomit. This piece discusses the technique and links it to the death of Ethan Saylor and Eric Garner. Notice how the DA places blame for Marshall’s death …
Born This Way was the new Down syndrome reality show that aired over December and January. I wrote a review of it here as basically fine TV limited by its artificial format. Here, though, is a really detailed essay on the show including, wonderfully, interviews with self-advocates about watching it. Opinions, of course, vary widely, no …
So the Oscars only nominated white actors for all the top awards. This isn’t a new problem. In response, the Academy’s president has released a statement, reading in part [my emphasis]: We need to do more, and better and more quickly. This isn’t unprecedented for the Academy. In the ’60s and ’70s it was about recruiting …