Recommended Reading for February 17th

Warning: Offsite links are not safe spaces. Articles and comments in the links may contain ableist, sexist, and other -ist language and ideas of varying intensity. Opinions expressed in the articles may not reflect the opinions held by the compiler of the post. I attempt to provide extra warnings for material like extreme violence/rape; however, your triggers/issues may vary, so please read with care.

four people in uniforms and helmets on hockey sleds

new jersey newsroom: Sled Warriors: Children with disabilities teach disabled veterans how to play hockey

Here’s a twist. Imagine a child teaching an adult? Well, it’s being done right here in the Albany area where the kids’ Sled Warriors ice hockey team is holding a teaching clinic for adults.

The twist, you see, is this: the adults are disabled war veterans. Their teachers are youngsters who are athletic, strong-willed, courageous and determined – and physically challenged. It’s all part of the Stride Adaptive Sports program, a fairly new therapeutic recreation-related service for individuals with disabilities that spans many Northeastern states, including New Jersey.

hkfreeman at The Living Artist: Ableist Activism

It is a great irony that as I have become more aware of and invested in the need for social justice activism, I am less able than ever to participate in it. […]

In short, I am irked that right when I am most willing to Do Something, I am drowned in ableist pleas to Do Something that I cannot do. I am doing what I can – my art, blogging, participating in discussions when and where my spoons permit – but in the face of those endless pleas for phone calls, personal appearances, and donations, my best attempts are framed as pathetic excuses for avoiding “real” activism.

Times of Malta: Gozo churches urged to provide easier access for persons with disabilities

The National Commission, Persons with Disability, said today that complaints about lack of accessibility increased by 76 per cent last year compared to previous years. […] Mr Camilleri attributed the increase in complaints to the fact that people with disability were becoming more aware of their rights.

An area of concern, he said, was that despite the commission vetting building development plans submitted to Mepa, several new buildings still did not provide for access for persons with disability, meaning that the buildings were not built according to the approved plans.

BoingBoing: TSA forces travelling policeman to remove his disabled four-year-old son’s leg-braces

Philadelphia TSA screeners forced the developmentally delayed, four-year-old son of a Camden, PA police officer to remove his leg-braces and wobble through a checkpoint, despite the fact that their procedure calls for such a case to be handled through a swabbing in a private room. When the police officer complained, the supervising TSA screener turned around and walked away. […]

The screener told them to take off the boy’s braces.

The Thomases were dumbfounded. “I told them he can’t walk without them on his own,” Bob Thomas said. “He said, ‘He’ll need to take them off.’ ”

Ryan’s mother offered to walk him through the detector after they removed the braces, which are custom-made of metal and hardened plastic. No, the screener replied. The boy had to walk on his own.

Media Access Australia: Promoting captions at a young age benefits Deaf and hearing impaired students

Introducing captions at an early age has benefits beyond the individual child, as it impacts on changing attitudes and practice for all concerned. […]

The article looks at how using captions in a family setting from a young age promotes positive attitudes towards captions. Ensuring that all content viewed in the family home and at school is captioned helps normalise a child’s experience. Griswold also encourages the hearing impaired child to take ownership and become the ‘technology expert’ for switching captions on.

The Guardian: Anti-terror body scanners may be illegal, ministers warned

Ministers should act immediately to ensure that the use of full-body scanners at British airports is lawful, the ­Equalities and Human Rights Commission has warned.

The commission’s head, Trevor Phillips, told the transport secretary, Lord Adonis, ­serious concerns existed about invasion of privacy and there was an apparent lack of safeguards to ensure scanners were operated fairly and without discrimination.

L.A.Times: What makes Sammy run wild [meloukhia’s comment: “…the article gets better. Oh my stars, does it.”]

Obsessed with success, they find themselves in frenzies when the industry’s harsh reality clashes with their desires. Now, their condition has a name: Hollywood NOS. […]

Dr. Todd Zorick, a psychiatrist and professor at UCLA’s Semel Institute, calls the condition “Hollywood Not Otherwise Specified,” or Hollywood NOS. The unofficial term is a wry reference to the “NOS” designation in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the bible of psychiatric ailments, which refers to a condition that impairs a patient but doesn’t fit with any specified, recognized disorder. Hollywood NOS describes a negative pattern of behavior for the sole purpose of achieving validation. The patients usually display a combination of symptoms: impulsiveness, anxiety, poor self-esteem and some personality disorder traits.

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