Posts by amandaw
By amandaw on 28 February, 2010
You’ve heard the term “choice feminism” right? Usually used derisively by a person who is arguing: Just because a woman makes a choice does not make it a feminist choice, we have to be able to examine issues on a systemic rather than individual level, some choices that individual feels are good for them are [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ability, ableism, abuse, choice feminism, class, cultural lens, culture, defaulting, disability, diversity, erasing, essential concepts, family, feminism, fuck that, head asplode, i thought you were supposed to be my ally, invisibility, justice, normal is only one option, power, privilege, privilege-check, problematic attitudes, race, roles, self-determination, sex, sexuality, shaming, social construction, social justice
By amandaw on 21 February, 2010
(Cross-posted at three rivers fog.)
I noticed something was wrong in the earliest hours of the morning, when my husband had disappeared from bed but I did not hear anything going on in the bathroom and could not see him anywhere.
Around 8, he got up to go to the bathroom and I lifted myself out of [...]
Posted in relationships, small stories | Tagged chronic illness, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, home, interlude, pain, pain management, personal, relationships, stories, treatment, welcome to my life
By amandaw on 5 February, 2010
Kate Harding, writing at Broadsheet:
“If you ask us,” say Glamour editor Cindi Leive and Arianna Huffington, “the next feminist issue is sleep.” Personally, I never would have thought to ask those two what the next feminist issue is, but they make a pretty good case. “Americans are increasingly sleep-deprived, and the sleepiest people are, you guessed [...]
Posted in bodies, feminism, gender, identity, intersectionality, language, media and pop culture, representations, shaming, social attitudes, Uncategorized | Tagged body image, chronic illness, community, control, culture, disability, family, feminism, health, privilege, social construction
By amandaw on 22 January, 2010
For the purposes of this post, I would like to remind everyone that the range of disability includes people who are mentally ill, paralyzed, Blind, Deaf, permanently injured, autistic, physically disfigured, with compromised immune systems or disordered speech or chronic pain or cognitive impairments, and many, many others. Disabilities may be fatal or not, may [...]
Posted in autonomy, bodies, feminism, gender, intersectionality, justice, media and pop culture, mental health, normality, policy, politics, reproductive justice, sexuality, shaming, social attitudes, Uncategorized | Tagged ableism, choice feminism, class, cultural lens, culture, disability, feminism, health policing, justice, language, mental illness, neurodiversity, normal is only one option, politics, pop culture, pregnancy, privilege, privilege-check, problematic attitudes, reproductive, self-determination, shaming, social justice, social treatment, speak up, the left, the right
By amandaw on 7 January, 2010
Short background: Rush Limbaugh (link goes to Wikipedia article) is a US conservative radio talk show host who has risen to prominence in the US by inciting “controversy” after “controversy” with hateful rhetoric. He also went through an ordeal some time back for addiction to prescription painkillers, an incident that the US left likes to [...]
Posted in blaming, i'm right here, politics, shaming | Tagged ableism, abuse, addiction vs dependence, chronic pain, color me unsurprised, control, culture, disability, drugs, health policing, i thought you were supposed to be my ally, medications, myths and misconceptions, pain, pain management, politics, privilege, problematic attitudes, the left, the right, things people say, this all sounds awfully familiar, treatment, vicodin
By amandaw on 2 January, 2010
I am quite fond of the pharmaceuticals I keep organized in my nightstand drawer. But I have to be careful not to drop them, so that the cats don’t find them and try to eat them.
But now, there’s a pill I can drop on the floor and let my kitty chew on all he wants! [...]
Posted in happy posts | Tagged catblogging, drugs, etsy, fun stuff, interlude, medications, pain management, silly
By amandaw on 14 December, 2009
Asking for help is something I have never been good at. It’s rather like standing in front of a car hurdling toward you, intending to push it in the opposite direction. It requires an enormous amount of resistance. And I’m almost certain to come away with some sort of injury.
Lying in bed the other night, [...]
Posted in introspective | Tagged body, chronic illness, disabilities, disability, fibromyalgia, pain, personal, resistance, work
By amandaw on 20 November, 2009
So many people have complained that it is asking too much of abled people to stop using words they consider trivial: crazy, insane, lunatic, idiot, moron, dumb, blind, etc.
I beg to differ.
You know what is really damn easy? Erasing these words from your vocabulary. All you have to do is stop saying them.
You know what [...]
Posted in 101, activism, justice, language, social attitudes | Tagged ableism, assholes, culture, essential concepts, feminism, fuck that, i thought you were supposed to be my ally, justice, language, privilege, privilege-check, problematic attitudes, shaming, social treatment, speak up, stereotypes, things people say
By amandaw on 4 November, 2009
Full disclosure: There is a discount offer at the end of this post (for 3ELove’s merchandise featuring their symbol). However, I have been meaning to write about this design for some time; it has such deep significance for me, and I hope it will gain prominence as more people are introduced to it.
And for more [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged acceptance, activism, advocacy, dignity, disability, disability movement, disabled, identity, images, international symbol of acceptance, life, logo, love, open your mind, pride, promotions, pwd, representation, self-acceptance, value, we're right here, wheelchair, worth
By amandaw on 24 October, 2009
(Originally posted July 2009 at Feministe, three rivers fog.)
We had a really good discussion about nondisability. It got derailed, a bit, because it depended on our ability to reasonably define disability. And it’s a subject that has come up in every discussion we’ve had these couple weeks. What is it?
I advocate an intentionally overbroad definition [...]
Posted in identity | Tagged ableism, accessibility, autism, cfids, cfs, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic illness, chronic pain conditions, conceptions of disability, difference, disability, disability movement, exclusion, fibromyalgia, identity, intersectionality, invisibility, invisible disabilities, invisible disability, isolation, language, mental illness, models of disability, participation, passing, privilege, self-identification, self-perception, social inclusion, social model, social treatment, symptoms
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