from Shopwiki:
The top part of the image is the search result box, showing an electric wheelchair priced at $2900. The bottom part of the image is the “Related Items” tab, which shows a choice of inexpensive dining-room chairs. (If you scroll down on the original page, you will also find stools and benches.)
From IRC:
[lauredhel] Oh, those wheelchair users, what hobbies do they – oh.
[lauredhel] But they like to SIT, right? How about CHAIRS?
[meloukhia] Can always use more CHAIRS!
About thetroubleis: Thetroubleis is a 19 year old with bipolar disorder, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and dyspraxia. She’s a WOC who is also a transracial adoptee and pansexual/queer, depending on how she’s feeling that day. She enjoys knitting, video games and is a music geek.
I’m back, did you miss me? I’d like to talk a little bit about the service dog community and public perception of service dogs and I’m hoping this will be interesting to more people them just me. Your comments and questions are appreciated.
All of my experience with the service dog community is online, which makes things a bit different than they would be if I was interacting in person. Any statements I make are huge generalizations, so please, take them will a grain of salt. This isn’t make to pick on anyone person or any particular community.
The online service dog community can be a bit abrasive, in part because of the worry about fakers. There are cases of people coming in and learning the lingo and the lay to pass a pet dog or an emotional support animal off as a service dog. While I recognize this is a problem, I do think that we could cut people a little slack. I see a lot of the aggressive questioning being directed at people interested in a service dogs for psychiatric issues, because of confusion people have about the difference between a psychiatric service dog and an emotional support animal.
However, the online service dog community is also very helpful. They are willing to point people at programs or trainers that suit their needs and help people with financial difficulties come up with ideas for funding. The community is ready to help with writing campaigns at a sign of injustice and isn’t afraid to take mistaken or bigoted people to task, even if they write for well respected newspapers. If someone’s service dog gets sick they are always there with support and help finding ways to get treatment if money becomes an issue. The people in the service dog community care and they care passionately.
If you can’t meet teams in your area the online service dog community is invaluable and I’d say they are great even if you can. It’s great to have people who get it, even if we disagree on some issues. It’s great to have others who can understand what it’s like to have an access issue, or what it’s like to take a dog to the zoo.
This actually brings me to my next point, access for service dog handlers and the public. It’s a joyful topic, full of good times and understanding and caring business owners.
Okay, I lied. The general public’s understanding of service dogs or in some cases that there is anything beyond guides is very low. It makes sense that more people know of guide dogs, as they are did start the first service dog schools and hold their dogs to a very high standard. I must say that the constant questioning of whether I am blind is most annoying, not because I’m insulted, but because what my disability is or isn’t is not up for public consumption. When one adds in American society’s feelings towards mental illness, I rarely feel disclosure is in my best interest. Some in the service dog community itself are still against the idea of service dogs for people with mental illness, so I expect even less acceptance of the general population.
One thing that gets to me is how few business owners know the law. Right now I’m covered under Maine state law, but I do think that a business owner should at least know the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act} at this point. It has been nearly 20 years, after all. So, I take pamphlets with me, even when I don’t have Figaro, to tell businesses about their rights and responsibilities. I figure if I keep this up, it should cut down on access issues, not only for me, but for all teams.
One thing I wish people understood is that petting a service dog can put the handler in danger. Yes, our dogs are trained to ignore you, but even the best dog breaks training. I love Figaro, but I wish people would talk to me not him and accept that maybe I don’t feel like talking that day. Drive by petting is one of my peeves, because by the time I process it, people tend to be too far away for me to scold or educate. I understand that people love dogs, but just as you shouldn’t go around grabbing a person’s wheelchair, you shouldn’t touch my dog without my permission. He’s not a public petting zoo.
People have attacked service dogs, kicked them, spat on them, set their dogs on them. This is unacceptable. Beyond the fact that a service dog may be someone’s independence, it’s also a living creature worthy of respect. Our dogs are not abused slaves and honestly, I think most service dogs have a better life than most pet dogs. What pup wouldn’t want to travel with their person and help them out, all the while seeing new things and people?
I try to believe that people are mostly good, if misguided, and therefore I’m going to keep educating. I hope that someday access issues will be far and few between and more people who could benefit from a service dog could have the partnership I’m able to have.
This is my next to last post in this series and next time, I’d like to talk a bit about cost of a service dog and ways to get a service dog.
An emotional support animal (ESA) is a US legal term for a pet which provides therapeutic benefit to its owner through companionship and affection. Emotional support animals are not specially trained to ameliorate disability as psychiatric service dogs are. They require only as much training as an ordinary pet requires in order to live peacefully among humans without being a nuisance or a danger to others.
Warning: Offsite links are not safe spaces. Articles and comments in the links may contain ableist language of varying intensity.
*Chicago Tribune: Disabled mom fighting to keep her son
Can a quadriplegic woman be a good parent? Her ex-boyfriend filed a custody suit that says no. […]
In September, Trais sued O’Neill for full custody, charging that his former girlfriend is “not a fit and proper person” to care for their son, Aidan James O’Neill. In court documents, Trais said O’Neill’s disability “greatly limits her ability to care for the minor, or even wake up if the minor is distressed.”
O’Neill counters that she always has another able-bodied adult on hand for Aidan — be it her full-time caretaker, live-in brother or her mother. Even before she gave birth to Aidan, O’Neill said, she never went more than a few hours by herself. […]
Howard LeVine, a Tinley Park attorney not affiliated with the case, said Trais’ concerns are legitimate and may hold legal weight. “Certainly, I sympathize with the mom, but assuming both parties are equal (in other respects), isn’t the child obviously better off with the father?” LeVine, who has specialized in divorce and custody cases for the last 40 years, pointed out that O’Neill would likely not be able to teach her son to write, paint or play ball. “What’s the effect on the child — feeling sorry for the mother and becoming the parent?”
* neeners815 at Her Voice: Pain
But we leave for vacation in three days and I’d really like to not leave in pain. Who am I kidding? If I have to be in pain, I’d rather it be somewhere nice and warm with the sound of waves and the beautiful blue ocean.
* katta: Some clues on how not to write deaf characters
The disability fanfic site has uploaded a bunch of stuff, so I’ve been reading quite a lot, and there are a couple of things that bother me.
Well, okay, a lot of things bothered me, but I do deliberately seek out these fics, so I’ve mostly learned to go LALALA at the badness, especially the very common badness like magical recoveries or undue sappiness.
But in this rant, I thought I’d limit myself to a couple of annoying trends in stories about deaf people.
* Amanda Forest Vivian at I’m Somewhere Else: ASD Savants/Disability Redemption transcript
I do think the idea of redemption is also around in the conversation about Asperger’s an high-functioning autism. And what I mean by redemption is the idea that if someone has a disability, if they’re good at something else, it’s okay that they have a disability.
* Cricbuzz: Kashmir’s disabled cricketer dreams of India match
Akseer Abbasi thought his childhood dream of playing cricket for Pakistan was obliterated when his cousin accidentally shot him in the knee and he lost his right leg 15 years ago.
Life took another turn for the worse when a devastating earthquake razed his family home in 2005, but the emergence of a disabled cricket league in Pakistan has revived his hopes of playing for his country. […]
For years Pakistan’s disabled cricketers were shunned, given little or no outlet for their sport. “Whenever I tried to play cricket, my street fellows discouraged me,” said Farhan Saeed, who is missing a left leg and bowls by running, taking a jump and landing on a crutch.
“Then I heard there would be trials to select a disabled team for Karachi and I got selected, and since then I haven’t looked back.”
* NRC Handelsblad: Disabled poster boy banned from rail stations
Not Normal, an art-exhibition focussed on the position of disabled people in society, which opened in Amsterdam on Wednesday has immediately sparked controversy. The exhibition features pieces by 80 visual artists, whose work all evokes the same question: what constitutes normality? And who decides what is normal and what is not?
An answer to the latter question came more quickly than expected. The Dutch national railway company NS refuses to display posters advertising the event at its train stations. The poster in question features a nude sculpture British artist Marc Quinn made of Stuart Penn, a British stuntman and amputee.
The NS defended its decision citing fear of customer complaints. According to a spokesperson, the NS’ stations should be “a pleasant place” for passengers. “We feel this poster is too confrontational and unfit for the public at large,” the spokesperson said.
description: A white sculpture reminiscent of the Ancient Greek tradition, on a plain black background. The sculpture is of a young man, naked, standing on his left leg. His right leg, with what appears to be an above-knee amputation, is raised in the style of doing a karate kick. His right arm is raised, bent and clenched in a fist; his left, with an above-elbow amputation, is by his side.
* synecdochic: six things make a post
[on replacing ableist terms at Wikipedia; synecdochic’s working on “Wheelchair bound”] I’ve gotten up to item 180 260 out of 822 on search results (which don’t seem to be updating), if anyone else wants to pitch in. “Confined to a wheelchair” is another good target, with 349 results as of now.
* eruthros: Casual Ableism
2. “She just won’t go to sleep at her bedtime.”
“Kids today!”
“Well, she’s on some medication that makes her agitated.”
“I don’t care how strong the medication is, you have to make it clear that there are LINES that she can’t cross. Bedtime is bedtime.”Yes, guys, side effects can be reduced if authority figures make rules! Also, rules and lines are the same for everyone, regardless of circumstances!
* Angry Black Bitch: From the soap box on the topic of autism…
Autism is not a childhood disorder.
Autistic kids do not grow out of it. I don’t give a shit about celebrities who claim otherwise or books that speculate about blah, blah and another blah.
The current reality is that autistic kids will become autistic adults.
The Jamaica Gleaner: Taxing even the blind – Disabled community outraged and saddened
Members OF the disabled community are both outraged and saddened by the recent decision by the Government to impose general consumption tax (GCT) on essential items used by persons with disabilities. […]
[Virginia Woods, executive director of the Jamaica Society for the Blind] said this could mean that the organisation might have to start charging a small fee for canes, which it does not want to do because many blind people are struggling to make ends meet.
* China View: China relaxes driving restrictions for disabled people
China’s Ministry of Public Security on Thursday issued an amendment to driving license rules, giving more disabled people the rights to sit behind the wheel.
Those with disabled right leg or both legs but able to sit up independently are allowed to drive small-sized automatic transmission cars which are specially designed for them, according to the new rules which will take effect on April 1.
The present regulation only allows those with disabled left legs to drive.
Brittany Murphy died today.
It took exactly five seconds for the speculation to start up about why she would die of cardiac arrest at the tender age of 32, and not quite double that for the snarky comments to seep out of the woodwork. Because certainly if she had an existing heart condition we all would have known about it, since we have that right to her privacy.
What we have, much like the public consumption we have of celebrities, especially women, is a perceived right to make snap judgments about their lives and their health.
Brittany Murphy’s death is tragic on its own merits. She was talented and only 32.
And if there is any truth to the speculation, then she was sick. If she was indeed sick, then we, despite what we think, do not have a right to flaunt that illness about. She was ill, and she lost. And to me, that means something, on a human, and mortal level. There but for the grace and all of that. When I read the comments that speculate about what illnesses she certainly had or what addictions would be necessary to cause this premature death it is like nails on a chalkboard while chewing tinfoil whilst walking on broken glass but not the fun Annie Lennox version with adorably mistreated Hugh Laurie. If there is any truth to it then she was one of us. She was possibly like me and she lost. That scares me at my core. That was one of us in there and instead of having a moment to appreciate the gravity of that we are ripping her apart and we don’t even know. We Don’t Fucking Know.
Also, last I checked it is bad form to speak ill of the dead. But I suppose I am still an idealistic, silly girl to expect people to treat other people with human dignity. I have spent too much time in social justice for that.
If not, then her death was simply a tragic and random happenstance.
If any information is released, we have to wait for it and presume that it is the truth, and if not, we have to go on with what we have.
And either way, it isn’t our business, really.
She died, and that itself is enough. It should be. She gave us entertainment and amusement. She did what she loved with her life.
We should give her a modicum of respect in death.
May she rest in peace.