sasha_feather at access_fandom (DW): Institutionalized Access
So for disabled people, suddenly the world is a lot harder to navigate because it is not designed for people with disabilities. It is designed for the “default” or unmarked human. This is a practical concern but it also sucks because it is discrimination. But this does not have to be so!
We can institutionalize access and incorporate universal design into our lives and events even in small ways. Language, attitudes, blogging practices, choosing accessible venues, listening to people and prioritizing access.
Molly Hennessy-Fiske (Los Angeles Times): Suicide is called 12th casualty of BP oil spill [trigger warning for discussion of suicide]
Tracy Kruse, 41, noticed that her sturdy husband had started to lose weight and was having trouble sleeping. He usually spent at least $30,000 outfitting his two boats for what he had thought would be a bountiful summer guiding his loyal clientele to the best fishing the rich gulf waters had to offer, said brother Marc Kruse, 52, who works for a corporate manufacturer in Mobile, Ala.
Two weeks ago, Kruse went to work for BP, turning his 50- and 40-foot boats, the Rookie and the Rookie II, into what the oil giant calls Vessels of Opportunity. He was never given a day off.
Judy Foreman (Los Angeles Times): Understanding restless legs syndrome
In recent years, the neurological condition has been linked to increased hypertension, stroke, erectile dysfunction, higher death rates from kidney disease, possibly Parkinson’s disease and fibromyalgia, and perhaps other problems as well. RLS affects 12 million Americans, according to a National Institutes of Health website, though some researchers think the prevalence is higher and some, lower.
Sady at Tiger Beatdown: Dirty Girls and Bad Feminists: A Few Thoughts on “I Love Dick”
I mean: This is basically how every terrible thing in the history of humanity has started, the decision that there’s an Us and a Them and the former is good and the latter is bad. Doing it in the name of lofty principles doesn’t mean you’re not doing it; it just means that when the problems — the self-falsification, the repression, the insistence on ideological purity rather than self-examination or originality or thought — creep up on you, you’re less likely to notice them and more likely to rationalize them. Because your aims really and truly are good.
spastigirl at dot_gimp_snark (LJ): Are You Having a Laugh? No, Not Much
It’s a shock to realise people may well look at me as an unjustified user of resources because I don’t have a physical accommodation (wheelchair, cane, crutches, service dog) to take with me everywhere. I always used to think people would assume the truth, that my disability doesn’t show much, but obviously there are beady little eyes everywhere ready to file me away as Not a Real Gimp.
