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.
A scene from an open-captioned performance of “Twelfth Night” in Central Park last year.
New York Times: Making Broadway Accessible for the Disabled
“No one wants to feel left out of a performance,” said Lisa Carling, the director of the Theater Development Fund’s [TDF] accessibility program, which offers assistance to theatergoers with physical disabilities. “If you miss a punchline or a dramatic statement, everyone else is included but you are not.”
Pulling out a comment from this article from “HAROLDAM” of Ft Myers:
I dislike the metaphors “the” and “disabled.” We are not a generic ” ‘the’ disabled” […] “Universal access” is a metaphor that is appearing quite often, it intends that venues not disable people from attending, participating. That electric door that opens for you, opens for people with disabilities. That curb cut that allows wheelchairs easy access, allows baby carriages the same access.
aris_tgd in access_fandom on dreamwidth: Dancing on Wheels ep 3: Simone, Harry, and the reality TV narrative.
So the drama in Episode 3 of Dancing on Wheels is interesting because it’s the first time on the show they’ve really talked about the representation of people with disabilities on and because of the show. And given the subject, I’d like to talk about the edit that the producers gave Simone and Harry this week.
sarahj at My Own Last Words: Celebrity Stuttering
Connecting to other people who stutter is important to me. People like Marty Jezer, who embrace their identity as someone who stutters, make me more inspired to accept me and my stutter as they are. Celebrities that hide and denounce their stutter as a childhood vice plays into the “inspiring disabled person” story that I and many others detest.
Bernama.com: Facilitate Accessibility For Disabled, Urges Chew
The disabled are finding the environment increasingly unfriendly, no thanks to a wonderful law which glaringly lacks proper enforcement. […]
These were among encumbrances that need to be addressed to facilitate the accessibility of a disabled person, said Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun. Expressing displeasure towards the snail-pace progress in creating a barrier-free environment, she said:
“A wonderful law without proper enforcement cannot create a disabled-friendly environment…a lack of cooperation from the local authorities would make it almost impossible to create a barrier-free environment.”
Washington Post: Parity law requires mental health benefits comparable to physical care benefits
While visits to [Denise Camp’s] internist for physical problems required a $20 co-pay, her weekly therapy sessions with a social worker cost $50 and trips to the psychiatrist who prescribed her medication were $75. A similar disparity applied to medicines: Drugs to treat the crippling depression that ended her engineering career cost her twice what she paid for an antibiotic. […]
Camp is among an estimated 140 million Americans, most of them covered by group insurance plans provided by employers, who are the beneficiaries of a sweeping new federal law designed to guarantee parity in insurance coverage.
The law, which took effect for most plans Jan. 1, applies to groups of more than 50 employees and is designed to end what Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called “needless and arbitrary limits on care.” Higher deductibles, steeper co-pays and other restrictions are no longer allowed for mental health and substance abuse treatment.
The Mainichi Daily News: People with disabilities snubbed by Tottori prefectural housing complex manager
The manager of a prefectural housing complex appointed by the Tottori Prefectural Government refused to rent apartments to three people on the grounds that they had disabilities, it has been learned. […]
Officials said that the 25 people were selected to enter the 156-apartment complex in Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, in August and December last year and January this year. A prefectural official reportedly handed over information on the 25, including the name of the householder, the number of people in each home, and data on whether there were elderly or people with disabilities. The official also verbally conveyed the level of disability of three candidates who used wheelchairs.
The manager subsequently refused to allow two of the disabled people to enter the apartments. One other person with a hearing disability who was selected in June last year was also turned away by the complex manager on the grounds that he had a disability.