Goodbye From FWD
Dear Readers:
We agreed when we began that this site wouldn’t run indefinitely, that we would move aside when the time has come, and that time has come.
Long before FWD was even imagined, people were writing about disability and feminism, in spaces across the Internet, coming from a variety of lived experiences and beliefs. In the last year, we’ve noticed an explosion of new disability blogs, and an increased interest in disability issues at sites labeling themselves explicitly as feminist. This has been tremendously exciting to watch, as one of our goals was to join the ongoing conversation about feminism and disability, to amplify voices that weren’t being heard, to, yes, be part of the way forward towards a more intersectional discussion on feminism and disability.
It is time for FWD, in turn, to make way for the many fantastic people who have things to say that you need to know about, some of whom you can find in our blogroll. Many of the FWD contributors will continue covering disability, as well as many other issues, in a variety of venues, but our writing will no longer continue in this location. FWD/Forward itself will be maintained as an archive and resource so people can continue to access the content here, although comments will be closed.
Thank you,
The FWD/Forward Staff
The Largest Minority Round Table Discussion: Glee and Disability in Pop Culture
Last week s.e. smith and several other members of the disability community, including Alice Sheppard (a dancer with AXIS wheelchair dance company), TK Small (a lawyer and disability rights activist), Christine Bruno (who works with the advocacy group Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts), and Maysoon Zayidd (an actor and comedienne with Cerebral Palsy).
came together on the WBAI show The Largest Minority to discuss Glee and depictions of disability in popular culture. This particular episode of the radio show was inspired by s.e.’s post, A Very Glee Christmas.
You can download directly from their site: This is a direct download link to save-as. Alternately, you can play it on the WBAI site by going to their archives and scrolling down to Shared Timeslot Wednesday 10pm to 11pm on Wednesday, December 22, 2010 10:00 pm. Alternately, you can read the transcript.
The actual show itself doesn’t start until 3:52 in to the program slot.
It’s taken me a while to get the transcript of this done, for which I apologize. I did mean to get this up far faster than I did. I also should note that I had some difficulties always identifying who was speaking, and there are points in the program where the show’s audio cuts out terribly and I’m unsure what they’re saying.
Read more: The Largest Minority Round Table Discussion: Glee and Disability in Pop Culture
For Your Tool-Box: How to get YouTube Captions to make a Transcript
My friend Capriuni passed along to me this awesome YouTube video of “Your Brains” (original song by Jonathon Coulton). In and of itself, that’s not really note worthy – Capriuni is my source for many cool things in YouTube’s Deaf communities. The video itself is subtitled for the ASL-impaired.
That’s where things got interesting, because my friend particle_person passed along to me how to get the captions off a YouTube video so one can make a transcript without duplicating work!
This is awesome to me because, of course, transcripts are necessary even for subtitled or captioned work, for a variety of reasons.
I wanted to pass along particle_person’s instructions, and the video itself because it made me laugh.
Read more: For Your Tool-Box: How to get YouTube Captions to make a Transcript
FWD Retrospective Week: FWD Elsewhere Edition
Welcome to FWD retrospective week! We’ve taking a look back at some of our favourite posts on a variety of themes over the next week.
FWD Retrospective Week: Guest Posts Edition
Welcome to FWD retrospective week! We’ve taking a look back at some of our favourite posts on a variety of themes over the next week.
FWD Retrospective Week: Policy Edition
Welcome to FWD retrospective week! We’ve taking a look back at some of our favourite posts on a variety of themes over the next week.
Inspiring Music
The song “Wonder” by Natalie Merchant is one of my favorite songs. I regard it as a disability anthem. Here is the music video of the song in which the singer and many women and girls sing along to the music. The women and girls are a variety of ages, body types, and races. At least one of the people in the video has Down Syndrome. I love everything about this song. It is joyful, it centers the narrative on the disabled girl/woman’s experience, and it pokes back at the abled people–doctors and journalists– who are so fascinated by her.
FWD Retrospective Week: Accessibility Edition
Welcome to FWD retrospective week! We’ve taking a look back at some of our favourite posts on a variety of themes over the next week.
Signal Boost: Disabled Peoples’ International 8th World Assembly South Africa 10-13 October 2011
Via Email:
Attend DPI World Assembly and visit South Africa. Share the experiences of People with Disabilities from around the World and living in Africa. An opportunity not to be missed.
Disability Rights Activist Max Starkloff has died
I have just heard on twitter from CripChick that Disability Rights Activist Max Starkloff has died. Please read his obituary at the River Front Times
Among other achievements, the Starkloffs and Paraquad introduced curb cuts and handicapped parking spaces to St. Louis, made St. Louis the first city in the country to have wheelchair lifts on public buses and fought to make more buildings accessible to disabled people. Starkloff co-founded the National Council on Independent Living and lobbied for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
To understand just how significant all these changes were, take a look at Annie Zaleski’s feature, “You think the Americans with Disabilities Act has leveled the playing field? Try walking in my shoes.” Both Max and Colleen play a prominent role in Zaleski’s story, discussing what it’s like to be disabled in St. Louis, both pre-ADA and today.