Recommended Reading for 06 September 2010

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 and links are provided as topics of interest and exploration only. I attempt to provide extra warnings for material like extreme violence/rape; however, your triggers/issues may vary, so please read with care.

Galt Museum Blog: Making a Difference (Thanks to Penny from Disability Studies at Temple U. for the link!)

As I called her earlier this week to book a class, she related the following story to me.
For years, Blanche has told students about her limited vision and says that if they see her out and about in the community, they should come up to her and say oki (Blackfoot for “hi) and introduce themselves because she won’t be able to see them. In August this year Blanche was at Wal-Mart shopping with her son and grandson. As she was sitting there, a young girl walked past her, stopped and then walked towards her with her hand-outstretched. When she got in front of Blanche she said “oki” and then “oki, Museum Lady.” She was with her young brother and turned to him and said “this lady works at the Galt Museum. You and me and Mom and Dad should go and visit her there one day.”

Public News Service: Disability Activists: Dump the Pity

For 60 years, Jerry Lewis has hosted the Muscular Dystrophy Association annual Labor Day telethon. And for about 20 years, one of “Jerry’s Kids” has been at odds with him over the way the money is raised.

Mike Ervin appeared on the telethon when he was six years old. Now he’s a writer and disability rights activist who speaks out against the telethon because he claims it promotes stereotypes of people with disabilities as objects of pity.

Deafinitely Girly: Things my ears do instead of hear!

Isn’t it amazing how my ears are so utterly useless at their originally intended purpose, and instead able to tell me when someone loves or hates me, and when danger is nearby?

Did they miss the memo about actually having to hear, too?

Pipecleaner Dreams: Special Exposure Wednesdays

Well, for many reasons, Ronnie does not like DeafTalk at all. But, yet another interesting turn of events happened at the doctor’s office. Ronnie was on a standard size exam table. The DeafTalk machine was positioned in front of him. Only problem – the interpreter could only see Ronnie’s knees.

VictorVille Daily Press: Change in ADA regulations concerns local service-animal owners

That will all change next spring when service rats, cats, birds and some others will be disallowed under ADA amendments recently signed by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The new rules will allow canines to continue to be used as seeing eye dogs and to alert seizures, but dogs will not be allowed to be used as service animals for emotional support. In recent years, dogs have helped bring normalcy to children with autism, soldiers returning from war with post traumatic stress disorder and more.

If you’re on Delicious, feel free to tag entries ‘disfem’ or ‘disfeminists,’ or ‘for:feminists’ to bring them to our attention! Link recommendations can also be emailed to recreading at disabledfeminists dot com. Please note if you would like to be credited, and under what name/site.

About Ouyang Dan

is an extremely proggy-liberal, formerly single mommy, Native American, invisibly disabled, U.S. Navy Veteran, social justice activist and aspiring freelance writer currently living in South Korea on Uncle Sam's dime. She has a super human tolerance for caffeine and chocolate and believes she should use those powers for good. She said should. She is not a concise person, and sometimes comes on a little aggressively in comments. Sometimes her right arm still twitches when military brass walks past her, but she would rather be reading YA Lit or pwning n00bs. She can be found being cliche about music, overthinking pop culture, and grumbling about whatever else suits her fancy at her personal website, random babble.... She also writes about military issues for Change.org's Women's Rights blog. If you have something interesting to say email her at ouyangdan [at] disabledfeminists [dot] com. Lawyers in Italy looking to hold lottery winnings in her bank account may wait longer for reply.

5 thoughts on “Recommended Reading for 06 September 2010

  1. The last article concerns me. The proposed new legislation specifically states that service animals may be used for “physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability” (from http://www.servicedogcentral.org/content/node/297). The article’s implication that people with psych disabilities would no longer be able to use their service dogs is kind of sketchy at best, and pulling in veterans with PTSD like that smacks of using them for emotional impact in a distinctly false context, which leaves a bad taste at the back of my mouth. As the Service Dog Central link says, “The use of service dogs for psychiatric and neurological disabilities is explicitly protected under the ADA.” under the proposed new rules.

  2. @Andrea But there are still restrictions that can pose to be a problem.

    Mentioned on the same page you linked:

    “1. Dogs whose sole function is “the provision of emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship” are not considered service dogs under the ADA.”

    Which excludes things such as providing a calming and supportive presence during anxiety attacks and flashbacks, or grounding during things like severely dissociative episodes. Unless they were to have another duty, this explicit restriction can and most likely will be used to deny access and accommodations for people with disabilities, even with the previously mentioned protection. More often than not, people ignore the protections. They see the restrictions and say no.

  3. @Static Nonsense Except that PTSD and anxiety are “psychiatric disabilities” and as long as the dog is trained to *do* something about flashbacks, panic attacks, &c, the service dog is still protected. The dog may get medication, or it may be trained to provide physical contact (through, say, putting its paws on the person or leaning into them), it’s still performing a positive action.

    And I think the sad fact is that access will be challenged/denied regardless of this new regulation; it happens now without the new rules in place.

    What the proposed new reg appears to do is clarify that the ADA does *NOT* apply to an Emotional Support Animal, which is basically an animal that is prescribed by a doc but *not* trained to do tasks but instead provides companionship, love, and focus. ESA access is limited and defined under the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 and the Air Carrier Access Act.

    of course, one of the bigger things the gov’t could do is actually establish and enforce standards for service animal behavior. I will wildly wave my hands here and guess that the new rules are a reaction to the people who unethically claim a “service animal” that does not fit the legal definition and also does not have enough training to be non-disruptive in public. But my cynical side says the new rules won’t actually change anything, because not enough people in the US are educated about access requirements for service animals and the difference between a service animal and an emotional support animal. Businesses and institutions already inclined to do the right thing will continue to do it and allow service animals, those that weren’t will just continue to deny access even though it’s illegal to do so.

  4. you can read the actual text of the amendment to the rule here:
    http://www.ada.gov/regs2010/titleII_2010/titleII_combined.html

    I think if I am understanding correctly, as long as the dog is trained to do some task related to the person’s disability – something other than simply being there – the dog is a service animal. So, for example, if the dog were trained to prevent a person in a dissociative state from wandering into traffic or some other unsafe environment, the dog would be a service dog. That still doesn’t help people who have non-dog animals trained to meet their needs, though.

  5. I agree, I’m really worried about the state of non-dog service animals. I would like to point out that miniature horses are also explicitly allowed if you look down into the section detailing the rules regarding animals. There is a caveat with horses, though, and that is a facility is allowed to make a determination regarding whether or not the horse’s “type, size, and weight of the miniature horse and whether the facility can accommodate these features” as well as an additional, explicit litmus on whether or not the horse compromises safety which seems to be above-and-beyond the litmus applied to dogs. I worry that the first litmus, in particular, will be used to unjustly exclude service horses.

    As for psychiatric service animals, other than the fact that a great deal of psych service animals are non-dog/horse the protections seem rather sound. The ADA amendments make it very clear what the litmus is: (1) is the animal required because of a disability? (2) what task does the animal do in service to their handler?

    I also find it interesting that now a business is allowed to ask what the task the animal does is but is not allowed to ask what the person’s disability is.

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