Daily Archives: 4 January, 2010

Quoted: Karl Michalak, “Face Value” (excerpt)

Everything healed up
but in a very strange way
Years later
when it was very obvious
that something was very wrong with my face
everyone
said one or more of the following:

It’s the Lord’s will.
Just learn to live with it.
It’s all in your imagination.
Don’t be so self-centered.
Shut up and do your homework.
Other people are worse off than you.

[Full text available in the 2004 anthology Queer Crips: Disabled Gay Men and Their Stories, edited by Bob Guter and John R. Kilacky.]

Backscatter X-ray scanners, security theatre, and marginalised bodies

backscatter x-ray scan in which the body surface of a person is clearly visibleI’ve just been reading about backscatter X-rays and airport security in my local paper: UK brings in full body scanners. The UK is looking to push these into routine use, using the attempted attack at Christmas as an excuse. In this attack, the perpetrator had an incendiary device strapped to his leg, and managed to set his own pants on fire.

There has been controversy over the scanners since their existence hit the media several years ago. The full body scans show the body quite clearly – a bit like the images purported to be revealed by those “X-ray Glasses!!” advertised in old comic books.

Concern has largely centred around how the scanners might affect able-bodied cis people: that they will feel exposed, that the security people might be hur-hurring over their fat rolls or breasts, that the images might be saved. Security “experts” have scrambled to refute the claims, saying that only “same-sex” people will read the scans (as if this is supposed to be reassuring to non binary gendered people), that the scan reader will be in a separate room from the scannee, that the images will not be able to be saved with the technology. They assure us that there will be “privacy algorithms” in place.

If anyone believes airline security operators for a second when it comes to future commitments to respect the privacy of airline travellers? I’ve a harbour bridge I’d like to sell you.

The same security experts have assured the media that the scans will be optional, provided as a purely voluntary alternative to a full body pat-down. I’m going to go out on a limb right now and guess that the images are not, for example, an option for wheelchair users who can’t stand up out of the chair. Reassurance of options and choices are not particularly useful for the large swathes of the population who can’t access them.

Things that will likely show up in a full body scanner:

Urinary catheters.

Incontinence pads.

Colostomy and ileostomy bags.

PEG feeding tubes.

Mastectomy prostheses.

Certain medication pumps and implanted ports, such as insulin pumps.

TENS machines.

Pacemakers.

The bodies, including genitalia, of transgender and intersex and genderqueer people.

All of these are the signs of bodies already marginalised. Some of these signs may be clear on current security screenings – some may not.

People with marginalised bodies already have major issues with air travel – with the uncertainty of the security process, with the practicalities of dealing with aids and needs while travelling, with the spoon-sapping of travel, with no option but unfamiliar foods that may affect the body unpredictably, with the difficulty of maintaining personal privacy in prolonged periods in close quarters with others, with unpredictable delays that affect health, with security threats when bodies don’t ‘match’ identification documents.

Soon there may be one more element in the mix: the sure knowledge that one’s personal business will be laid bare in front of security-theatre goons who will almost certainly be poorly trained in disability awareness and gender tolerance.

I give it 24 hours before clandestine mobile phone images of travellers with marginalised bodies show up on the Internet.

Is this worth it?

Happy World Braille Day!

Today is World Braille Day!

Were I a more organized person, I would now present you with a scrupulously researched history of Braille, deep insights into the so-called “War of the Dots”, and a wonderful interlude on the use of raised text in the Halifax School for the Blind.

Instead, a few things I’ve gathered from my readings:

There had been a raised-dot writing process before Braille invented his own, but it took up more space. Braille simplified it and quickly taught his friends and fellow classmates at the Paris school for the blind how to use it. Previous to that, blind people had been taught to read using embossed letters. Letters would be embossed by getting paper wet and then putting it down on carved (wooden? metal? I can’t remember) 3-d letters. This strikes me as incredibly cumbersome.

At first, Braille’s new method was embraced by the school. However, when the former headmaster retired, a new headmaster came in and was determined to get rid of everything that had been done by the former one. I wrote some notes about this:

“To dramatize and enforce the new system [of embossed writing for the blind], Dufau made a bonfire in the school’s rear courtyard and burned not only the embossed books created by Huay’s [First principal of the first school for the blind in Europe] original process but also every book printed or hand-transcribed in Louis’ [Braille] new code. This comprised the school’s entire library, the product of nearly 50 years’ work. To make sure no Braille would ever again be used at the school, he also burned and confiscated the slates, styli, and other Braille writing equipment.”

!!!!!

“Dafau’s students rebelled and Braille survived. The older students taught the younger students despite the punishment of slaps across the hands and going to bed without dinner.”

Reading Hands: The Halifax School for the Blind, pp 25-26.

I don’t know yet how braille made its way from France across to England and then across to North America (there was a competition! And the “New York Press” style of raised dots), and know even less about how or whether or went elsewhere. (Lucky for me, there are books! I will learn! It will be exciting!)

One thing I like about braille is that it was invented and refined by blind people. Despite attempts to wipe it out, blind students refused to give it up – much like Sign Language, in fact.

WebAim provides some insight into how Blind people use the web.

Happy World Braille Day! Please feel free to correct my history in comments, and also to leave links and book recommendations. I would like to recommend Woeful Afflictions, by Mary Klages, which is a fascinating look at Victorian attitudes towards disability.

Recommended Reading for January 4th

Warning: Offsite links are not safe spaces. Articles and comments in the links may contain ableist, sexist, and other -ist language of varying intensity. Opinions expressed in the articles may not reflect the opinions held by the compiler of the post.

NTs are Weird: Need a Ride

Many politicians in larger urban areas (like Denver) probably pat themselves on the back thinking, “See how progressive we are? We’re doing the bare minimum required by federal law to create an accessible transportation system. So now nobody has the excuse that they can’t get transportation to work or wherever else.” Let’s look at that system’s rules in Denver, though (they aren’t worse or better than most other US cities), if you can’t ride the standard bus (because of cognitive/sensory issues, location of the stop, etc).

Salma Mahbub at Bangladeshi Systems Change Advocacy Network (B-SCAN): An Open Letter of a Person with Disablity, by Sabrina Chowdhury

However, in other countries, the infrastructure and policies mean that the person with disabilities can lead a somewhat normal life and not face many of the problems and discrimination we face in this country. For example, Serina Row, the Manager of the Singapore Muscular Dystrophy Association, is also inflicted with the same condition. However, with the aid of an electric wheelchair, she is able to move around, complete her tasks and go about life as if nothing is wrong. […]

I wanted to start over, but, again, social barriers stopped me. How can a disabled woman, unable to even walk, supposed 2 start a family? My own father could not come to terms with the fact that his disabled daughter would marry.

Visible Woman: My Thoughts and Prayers [compiler’s note: caregiver point of view; interesting to contrast with chronic illness/disability, I think]

And when people say “if there is anything at all I can do?” Yeah, most don’t mean anything really. Particularly not the tough hands on patient care. Certainly when I say it I don’t mean it. It’s hard enough when you are the primary caregiver and can’t avoid it.

Mussa Chiwaula: About Disability and Assistive Devices

I vividly recall how my life was transformed when my parents,after a long time of struggle, finally acquired a wheelchair for me having been carried on the back by my brothers to and from school during the early part of my primary education.It was such a huge relief for my brothers since I was growing and also becoming heavy. […]

The demise of the Malawi Against Physical Disability (MAP) is a classic case in point.MAP manufactures low cost wheelchairs and tricycles that are ideal for the local environment and are given to disabled people throughout the country.

The services of the organisation have now come to a halt because government is reluctant to fund the project and this has resulted in many disabled people facing serious mobility problems such as school drop outs and will even unable some to cast their votes in the forthcoming elections this year thus disfranchising them and pushing them further to the margins of the society.

Bangalore Deaf Information: Hearing-impaired force a hearing

Members of the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) held a demonstration outside the office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) to protest against the denial of allotment of civil services to the three hearing impaired candidates who cleared the all-India civil services examination.

Happy Birthday, Louis Braille! On the “Is Braille Dead?” debate: [has anyone noticed – yes, you probably have – that these debates tend to assume that all blind folks have typical hearing and auditory processing? Not to mention all the non-book applications where audio may be suboptimal, like ATMs.]

New York Times Magazine: Listening to Braille

Blind Access Journal: Listening to Braille [has a copy of the article if the NYT paywall is playing up]

Media Dis & Dat: As “reading” evolves, Braille is pushed aside for audio books

Engadget: Squibble portable Braille interface is clever, beautiful

photo of large pocket-sized electronic device with a braille display and a series of buttons. Captioned Enjoy reading your messages, not being read to!

Braille Blocks

children's style colourful wooden blocks with the letters of the alphabet printed on them in Braille and Roman