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.

Cowra Guardian: Fearnley nominated for world sports award:

Former Charles Sturt University student Kurt Fearnley has again been recognised as one of the world’s greatest athletes by being nominated for a prestigious Laureus World Sports Award. […] Fearnley received his first nomination for the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award in 2007 but was beaten for the title by German skier Martin Braxenthaler. This year Fearnley will be joined by the captain of the Australian men’s Wheelchair Basketball team Justin Eveson in the race for the title.

frolicnaked at RH Reality Check: Endometriosis and “Why Don’t You Just…?”

Today, a close friend asked me how I was feeling, to which I said, “It’s bad enough to need the Percocet today.” I suppose her response shouldn’t have shocked me, but it did. “How can you work when you’re on those drugs?”

From there, I made the mistake of: a) continuing the conversation, and b) saying what I actually thought. “Isn’t the better question, ‘How do you work with debilitating pain?'” Because while I lament that I’m not necessarily more functional on narcotics than in 10+ pain, I know damn well that I’m not less. And you know, a lot of people I know don’t seem to register that, but they’re quite happy to share their opinions about what they think I shouldn’t be doing.

Brie at Feminists with Female Sexual Dysfunction: Guest Post – On the social construction of sex

There have been small steps taken to change the assumption that all women have the same sex life. But they are small steps. Whenever I talk to a friend about my sex-life or lack-there-of they are confused and don’t really understand. We have short 20 minute specials in the middle of the day, or on newscasts that only a select few are made aware of. Half of the specials that I have seen in the last few months I only knew about because the National Vulvodynia Association emailed me about them. And any attempt by network shows to highlight these problems, while appreciated, never quite get it right. ABC has tried, on a few occasions, to show women dealing with sexual dysfunction but the diagnosis and treatment happen so quickly it paints a false picture of the realities of the condition. We can’t expect miracles overnight I guess.

Philosopher Crip: Crip Conversations: When Activism and Scholarship Converge:

The following is an interview I conducted with my good friend, Bethany, who recently launched the blog CripConfessions.com.[…]

Bethany: CripConfeesions fits into my overall work because I am devoted to raising awareness and creating social change for disabled people. Through blog posting, I hope to add to my other work by providing a personal glimpse into my nuanced reality. I want more people to understand that disability is not a personal tragedy, but is an artful way of being. Of course, as a sexologist, I also want people to see disabled people as desirable and viable sexual/love partners so I hope some of my posts make some people realize how deliciously sexy disabled people are. CripConfessions then is just one part of the overall revolution of consciousness I seek to be a part of.

Miss Banshee: Defining Disability:

So why do I feel shame at saying I get that government check every month?

I guess it all has to do with how you see, or don’t see, disability. You can’t see my sickness. I can walk, and talk, and smile, and PRETEND everything is fine, and I do. You never SEE that I have a chronic illness. It’s all safely tucked away in my head, and I’ve spent the vast majority of my life seeing that it stays there, away from the world, my filthy, dirty secret. That I have a chronic, lifelong mental illness.

The Age: Family fought immigration laws for daughter

Australian migration laws tried to keep out a budding gymnast who delivers meals for charity. Cailan Ford-Weinberg was four when her Down syndrome was determined to be too heavy a cost on the healthcare system for her family to move from Britain, an inquiry into the migration treatment of disability heard.

After a lengthy $5500 appeal, the 15-year-old now has a shot at representing Australia at the Special Olympics and is well recognised in her community of Upper Ferntree Gully for volunteering with Meals on Wheels. […]

Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes said the laws were outmoded. ”They make crude guesses and the assumptions they make about people with disabilities are only negative,” he said.