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.

little light at Questioning Transphobia: is a dream a lie if it don’t come true / or is it something worse [WARNING. Story of comprehensive denial of a woman’s gender identity and forced de-transitioning after she became disabled.]

Wheelchair Dancer: Audition for Glee

[…] [the Guardian on Andy Serkis playing Ian Dury:] “He’s been left with back pain, and a “massive weird muscle” has developed in his groin. “I’m still recovering from it all.”

And then, there’s the rumours about Hugh Laurie’s hip (link is to Google search on the topic).

It’s hard work playing a disabled person. Let someone more qualified to do it, do it.

Jillian Weise at the NYT: Going Cyborg

“Your brain is confused,” she said. As if this were comforting. “You’re used to legs that require you to lock into a position. Get it?”

I did not get it. For five years I had walked on my old hinged leg. I had been in my longest relationship with that leg and lived in three different states. I don’t want to wax sentimental here and say it felt like dying, but it kind of did feel like dying. Goodbye hinge, goodbye foot. You’re done. You’re through.

Lisa Belkin at Motherlode (New York Times): Is Refusing Bed Rest a Crime?

Arguments are under way today in the First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee, Fla., in the case of Samantha Burton, who was confined to her bed by a judge earlier this year because she was at risk for a miscarriage.

Burton was in her 25th week of pregnancy in March 2009 when she started showing signs of miscarrying. Her doctor advised her to go on bed rest, possibly for as long as 15 weeks, but she told him that she had two toddlers to care for and a job to keep. She planned on getting a second opinion, but the doctor alerted the state, which then asked the Circuit Court of Leon County to step in.

She was ordered to stay in bed at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and to undergo “any and all medical treatments” her doctor, acting in the interests of the fetus, decided were necessary. Burton asked to switch hospitals and the request was denied by the court, which said “such a change is not in the child’s best interest at this time.”

Freep.com: Flint woman gets prison term in disabled girl’s death

A 41-year-old Flint woman was sentenced to 10-15 years in prison today in connection with her no-contest plea to charges of starving her 9-year-old quadriplegic niece to death, then hiding the girl’s body in a rented storage unit for weeks. […> Officials said Thomas starved Shylae, then hid her body so she could continue collecting more than $3,000 a month in welfare money that she received to care for the girl, who was physically and mentally challenged and unable to feed herself.

CBC.ca: Alberta’s services not accessible, argue disability advocates

Calgary resident Choi Ho, whose 13-year-old son has autism, says it took a long time to get the help her son needs, like physiotherapy, because she didn’t know English well enough to discover what was available.