All posts by lauredhel

About lauredhel

Lauredhel is an Australian woman with a disability.

Question Time: Spoon-saving Wee Web Widgets

I’m probably the last person on the block to find out there’s a better way to delete hundreds of old comment subscriptions in livejournal. I’ve been going to the Subscription Tracking page and deleting each one by hand – which then forces a reload of the page, sending Firefox to using 100% of one of my CPUs, and generally taking a whole lot of time, spoons, and aggravation.

Searching around, I now find that Afuna has a Greasemonkey script, Delete Multiple Subscriptions, that at least makes the job easier. You click on the little trashcan, it highlights with a red box, then when you’re done selecting the outdated subscriptions you click “Delete” at the bottom. Hoorah!

Now, if anyone finds a way to mass delete the oldest x00 subscriptions, or all those older than x0 days, please, please, please let me know.

I’ve also only just discovered YousableTubeFix, which makes my Youtube use much easier. YousableTubeFix allows you to customise a whole lot of interface stuff on Youtube:

Removes ads and unwanted sections (configurable), allows downloading and resizing videos, displays all comments on video page, expands the description, can prevent autoplay and autodownload, adds a HD (High Definition) select, etc…

I’ve been attached to Remove It Permanently forever, though it seems rather flaky these days and probably needs updating. It gives a different set of functions from Adblock. I see there’s a Yet Another Remove It Permanently, but I haven’t tried it yet.

There’s another one I use all the time, for websites with colour schemes I find unreadable (white on black, grey on black, pale grey on white, light green on medium green…): Black And White, a little bookmarklet, shift most pages to plain black text on a white background.

These particular scripts and extensions may not be accessible to all users – so I’d love to hear your tips and experiences.

What other wee web widgets make your life easier? Spill! Shar

Recommended Reading for December 16

* Boston.com The Big Picture’s 2009 in Photos [click through for much larger image]:

wheelchair on the beach

caption: An empty wheelchair belonging to quadriplegic Patrick Ivison, 15, sits idle on the beach while Ivison, his mother, and friends prepare for another surf ride at the Cardiff State Beach in San Diego, California on October 6th, 2009. The photo has the focus on the empty chair at the edge of the beach, with people in the waves, some standing, one on a board. The people are out of focus so you can’t see anyone distinctly. There is scattered seaweed in the wet sand.

* very filled with dreams: “yeah so this got too long for a quote post

[…] i guess i am saying that there’s a limit to how actually subversive a blonde skinny white pop star can be. that isn’t a reflection on gaga (or any other blonde skinny white pop star) herself at all – it’s a reflection on a culture that marks some bodies as acceptable and some bodies as inescapably transgressive. for gaga, the grotesque is a costume, an act.

* ABC News: Minister grilled over disability accommodation

ACT Disability Minister Joy Burch has been grilled over the treatment of disabled people who are stuck in hospital while the department tries to provide supported accommodation.

The ACT Liberals have used an Assembly committee hearing to highlight the case of one woman who has been in a Canberra Hospital bed for nearly three years.

* Ireland On-Line: Cowen rejects call for reversal of budget cuts on carers

The Taoiseach Brian Cowen has rejected opposition calls for the budget cuts on the blind, the disabled and carers to be reversed.

Mr Cowen said the Government has to create a sustainable social welfare system next year.

Recommended Reading for December 15

Happy Bodies: Dementors [note: some of the videos at link are not transcribed]

Can we please stop talking about non-neuro-typical people as though there is something wrong with them? They may be different, but they are not deficient and attitudes like those expressed in the Autism Speaks video just serve to promote the idea that people with ASD are somehow lesser than neuro-typical people.

Inky Ed: what happened?

He couldn’t have been more than three years old. I watched him as he discreetly looked out of the corner of his eye, checking, peeking, stealing another glance.

He sidled up to Mac, this time for a closer look, him standing, Mac sitting – they were almost nose to nose. A perplexed look formed on his face, something was clearly amiss, he needed to know…

“What happened?” he asked me with wide eyes and hands upturned.

Feminists with Female Sexual Dysfunction: The ugly things people say about FSD

Sometimes there will be something of value to take away from the comments section, especially if an article is intended to be supportive. Someone with personal experience in the matter at hand may point out flaws in an author’s language, or offer resources to more information on the topic at hand. Other times, comments are less than helpful. The comments that stand out the most though, are often the worst, most hurful ones. They are the unavoidable, spotted-too-late Ice Bergs (“Right ahead!”) floating among a sea of free speech.

Gregor Wolbring in M/C Journal: A Culture of Neglect: Climate Discourse and Disabled People

Although climate change will disproportionately impact disabled people, despite the less than stellar record of disaster adaptation and mitigation efforts towards disabled people, and despite the fact that other social groups (such as women, children, ‘the poor’, indigenous people, farmers and displaced people) are mentioned in climate-related reports such as the IPCC reports and the Human Development Report 2007/2008, the same reports do not mention disabled people. Even worse, the majority of the material generated by, and physically set up for, discourses on climate, is inaccessible for many disabled people (Australian Human Rights Commission). […]

Ableism and disablism notions experienced by disabled people can now be extended to include those challenges expected to arise from the need to adapt to climate change. It is reasonable to expect that ableism will prevail, expecting people to cope with certain forms of climate change, and that disablism will be extended, with the ones less affected being unwilling to accommodate the ones more affected beyond a certain point. This ableism/disablism will not only play itself out between high and low income countries, as Desmond Tutu described, but also within high income countries, as not every need will be accommodated.

CNET: Web accessibility no longer an afterthought

Web accessibility has come a long way in the decade since many of these proposals were first floated. It’s still a challenge, however, for the Web community to remember that as it pushes forward with exciting new technologies like HTML5 that could reinvent the Internet experience, it must keep in mind the needs of those who can’t type 60 words per minute, operate a mouse like a scalpel, or see the unobtrusive pop-up windows that point to the next destination on the page.

“As the Web gets more and more dynamic, the accessibility requirements get more and more interesting, and sometimes challenging, to implement,” Brewer said.

ABC: Taxis refusing to pick up disabled people

Disability advocate Lynn Strathie says at a recent forum in Darwin the main complaint was about transport services. She says taxis in Darwin are unreliable, inconsistent and have refused to serve the blind and others with an impairment.

“At that forum we had a person who is totally blind and has an aid dog who continually was refused taxis,” she said.

The executive officer of the Territory’s Taxi Council, Colin Newman, says it is true that some drivers have refused to serve the disabled. “The service is getting better but it is not perfect,” he said.

It’s a scooter, not a Mack truck

Something I’ve noticed a lot since starting to drive a scooter is how TERRIFIED people are.

Really.

On the sidewalks, I zoom along at six kilometres an hour if I’m unaccompanied and there’s no one around. That feels really zoomy to me, having not locomoted that fast bipedally for quite some time.

But when I’m in a place with people around, or in a shopping centre, I dial the speed right down to minimum. This is actually a fairly slow walking pace.

Yet every single time, people look frightened, and leap out of my way – when they’re not deliberately ignoring me and completely blocking the way while I wait or request passage.

Partners grab their partners to pull them aside, with alarmed looks on their faces, as if tackling them out of the path of a speeding bus in a spectacular Hollywood scene. Parents grab their toddlers and whisk them into arms, glaring at me as if I was charging the kid brandishing a sword and ululating. People in groups jolt visibly when and if they decide to finally acknowledge my existence, and make a giant production, involving a lot of discussion and back and forth and extendings-of-arms, of shuffling each other around to make space for me to get by. People blocking aisles with their angled trolleys ignore me for as long as possible, then make a big deal of moving the trolley, as if they’re compassionate solicitous generous souls who are doing me a giant favour.

People. PEOPLE. It isn’t a drama. It isn’t a big deal. It’s just a scooter with wheels. I’m quite obviously riding slowly and carefully – slower than you’re walking, most of the time. I can see your toddler, your husband, your friend, with these here eyes in my head, and much as I occasionally joke about scooter-mounted flamethrowers, I’m not actually planning to mow them down in cold blood. I don’t take up five metres of side-to-side space; you don’t need to flatten yourself against the wall as if you’re in a commando movie; you need only make enough space for me to get where I’m going.

Just treat me as you would any other human.

Recommended Reading for December 14

Wheelie Catholic: Imagine no one has to imagine

One of the other questions I’ve been asked is “What’s it like to be a quadriplegic?” usually followed by “I can’t imagine!”

My answer to that is no, you probably can’t imagine, although you may try , with the misguided help of maudlin movies about disability, on the one hand, or inspirational tales of people climbing mountains, on the other. You’ll read stories about quads who want to die and stories about quads who help others find better ways to live. You may tap into societal myths and assumptions about disability, through no fault of your own because we are surrounded by them. You may base your ideas on the few disabled people you’ve met and generalize from there how it is to live with a disability. And, sadly, you may avoid being around disabled people because you are so worried that you’ll say or do the wrong thing as you try to imagine what it’s like for them.

To all that I say – please, don’t imagine what it’s like.

LaToya Peterson at Racialicious: Why is it so important to have productive conversations on race?

Conversations about race are not amusing at all when the people who you are discussing the issue with make it clear that (1) they have not thought about the issue much, (2) they don’t care to think about the issue much, but (3) they are determined to talk about the issue anyway. And, as some of you may know, I was recently confronted with this situation over at Jezebel. […]

Writing about race in mainstream spaces can often be frustrating and it can often be rewarding, just as many of you know from doing the same thing in your daily personal interactions. And while we are all encouraged when we have a breakthrough by talking to others and expanding upon or ideas, it is also important to remember that this must be done in a sustainable way. I have seen too many people with amazing ideas and wonderful perspectives become burnt out and disengaged because they felt they could reach everyone, every time, at every occasion. But as these structures were not built in a day, and not upheld by one person, the process to dismantling them will also be a long, hard road.

A Femanist View: Heads-up for Feb.

On the Paul O’Grady show today, professional dancer Brian Fortuna from the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing (the US version is called Dancing with the Stars) announced a new show called Dancing on Wheels.

Knowledge Ecology International : Writers Open Letter in Support of WIPO treaty for People who are Blind or have other Disabilities [via BoingBoing]

The undersigned, writers and journalists, are writing to ask you to support the World Blind Union proposal and initiate discussions at the World Intellectual Property Organization on a treaty to improve access to works, articles, blog posts, subtitled films, etc in formats accessible to people who are blind, visually impaired or have other disabilities that impair access.

New York Times: Poor Children Likelier to Get Antipsychotics

Some experts say they are stunned by the disparity in prescribing patterns. But others say it reinforces previous indications, and their own experience, that children with diagnoses of mental or emotional problems in low-income families are more likely to be given drugs than receive family counseling or psychotherapy.

Part of the reason is insurance reimbursements, as Medicaid often pays much less for counseling and therapy than private insurers do.

Nashville Scene: Even after a sex-abuse scandal, NHC Bristol nursing home employees still don’t know how to handle abuse allegations

Last August, after a staffer was charged with molesting elderly patients—some of whom were too ill or frail to plead for help—at a Bristol, Va., nursing home run by Murfreesboro-based National Healthcare Corp., whistleblowers hoped that the ensuing attention would create an inhospitable climate for serial predators.

Instead, an October survey of the nursing home’s staff obtained by the Scene—prompted in part by a sexual-abuse complaint lodged in September—found that most of its employees don’t even know they are required by law to report abuse allegations to the state. […]

NHC Bristol may serve as an extreme example of just how bad a nursing home can be. The allegation of sexual abuse wasn’t the only complaint that prompted the survey in October. According to Brenda Bagley, supervisor of the complaint unit for the Office of Licensure and Certification at the Virginia Department of Health, the nursing home had been reported for a “general lack of care.”

Chatterday Open Thread.

This is our weekly Chatterday! open thread. Use this open thread to talk amongst yourselves: feel free to share a link, have a vent, or spread some joy.

What have you been reading or watching lately (remembering spoiler warnings)? What are you proud of this week? What’s made your teeth itch? What’s going on in your part of the world? Feel free to add your own images. (Anna insists that these should only be of ponies, but I insist that very small primates, camelids, critters from the weasel family, smooching giraffes, and cupcakes are also acceptable.) Just whack in a bare link to a webpage, please – admin needs to deal with the HTML code side of things.

Today’s chatterday backcloth comes via Epicute. The yellow icing, little black icing sunglasses and red smile, and red, yellow and orange gummy rays combined to make my day feel brighter. For a detailed recipe and instructions, check out Betty Crocker Recipes on flickr.

yellow sun cupcake

Recommended Reading for December 11

Note that a number of blog links, media reports, and the comments therein may contain questionable language and/or clear descriptions of abuse.

A comment on Meloukhia’s post on Glee’s “Hairography” episode:

Coming from a hard-of-hearing family, I was excited to see the deaf choir perform! I thought about going to find my little sister, who is profoundly deaf. As it is, I didn’t have to bother getting up. Why? Because the episode wasn’t closed captioned.

I’ll let that sink in. Their oh-so-inclusive episode about some Very Special Disabilities…was unwatchable for people with the exact disability being discussed.

Some of you may be wondering when we’re going to write about Glee, since the midseason finale just aired. Rest assured that Anna and meloukhia are currently working on a monster post (in several parts!) which will hopefully go up in a few days.

Fat Nutritionist: Stairway to Health, or, Let’s Judge People for Not Taking the Stairs.

The life in downtown Toronto is just plain hard on me, and clearly, the stairs are not helping my heart. So I try to make it at least a little easier on myself by taking an elevator or escalator when convenient. I like to think of this as having compassion for my limitations, though I admit, I am often embarrassed to be standing by the elevator — even though I am registered as disabled at my school, and have to wear special orthotics in my shoes and blah blah blah. I am still embarrassed because I know what people must be thinking of me — the fat lady taking the elevator instead of the stairs.

Lennard Davis in the Huffington Post: “Let Actors with Disabilities Play Characters with Disabilities” via Media dis&dat:

There is a very high frequency of Oscar winning films that depict disability, but very few of those clutching the golden statues are people with disabilities.

There is a standard response on the part of Hollywood and Broadway when this issue is raised. The producers will say that they “tried” (if they tried at all) to use disabled performers but that they couldn’t find anyone good enough to play the part.

BBC: Bollywood shines spotlight on health disorders

Amol Gupte, writer of Taare Zameen Par, said he made the film primarily “to take a re-look at parenting”. […]

Mr Gupte, who says he makes films for “social change and sensitisation”, maintains dyslexia is not a disability but a neurological difference. “It is called the gift of dyslexia. Problems are not in children. Problems are in the system.

Leader Messenger: Residents block disabled care home

A group of Hope Valley residents is fighting a plan to convert the old Tolley winery into a home for people with severe physical disabilities.

In submissions to Gully Council, residents say SA Care’s bid to house six disabled people at the John Ramsay Cct property would attract criminals seeking drugs, increase traffic, noise and parking problems, and bring down their property values.[…]

In their submission to the council, Mr and Mrs Evans wrote: “The Pedare Estate is a quiet residential estate and let’s not upset (its) character and tranquility. The estate has one entrance/exit and is not designed for a commercial venture.”

They also said the clients of a home for the disabled would likely require medication, which could attract criminals to the area seeking drugs.

Sydney Morning Herald: Qantas refused guide dog and stranded blind woman

Qantas left a blind woman distressed and stranded interstate at night because the airline would not allow her guide dog on a flight.

Qantas is not alone. Tiger Airways two days earlier baulked at letting the same woman fly with her guide dog.

CBS Chicago: Family Sues Over Alleged Police Beating Of Teen

A Chicago family wants justice.

They claim a Chicago police officer burst into their family-owned restaurant and beat their son bloody, despite being told that the teen has autism and special needs.

Recommended Reading for December 10

Note that a number of blog links, media reports, and the comments therein may contain questionable language and/or clear description of abuse.

Upstart Magazine: Social media – a barrier or tool for inclusion?

Alex Varley, CEO of Media Access Australia, a not-for-profit devoted to promoting access to media for people with disabilities, says: ‘Social media are the cornerstones of modern communication and it is essential that people with disabilities, who can become socially isolated, are able to use these tools and stay connected with the world.’

Before the arrival of social media technology, Glenda Watson Hyatt, who lives with severe cerebral palsy, was unable to converse with most people, unless, as she says, they could understand ‘Glenda-ish’. Glenda now runs an eloquent blog, allowing her voice to be heard clearly and highlighting the difference between the way people with disabilities are perceived in the real world and through social media.

Glenda Watson Hyatt: 8 Simple Ways to Better Serve Customers with Disabilities During the Holiday Shopping Rush

3. Minimize extra products and displays in aisles. Cluttered aisles make navigating difficult for customers using wheelchairs, walkers and service dogs.[…]

[scooter-riding editor’s note: Quoted For Truth!]

BBC UK: ‘Fiasco’ of student loan failures

[…] a report into university loan delays in England found “conspicuous failures”. There have been widespread complaints about the Student Loans Company – with the problems still unresolved as the end of the university term approaches. […]

“The government were told about the problems with the system more than a year ago but they failed to act as it fell apart. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of students – and particularly those that are disabled – are facing hardship or having to drop out of university because they cannot afford to keep themselves,” said Shadow Universities and Skills Secretary, David Willetts.

Shots (NPR’s Health Blog): Lawmakers Seek Halt To Abuses Of Disabled Kids In School

Two investigatory reports earlier this year told disturbing stories of the harsh, and on occasion fatal, methods sometimes used to discipline disabled children in school. Now members of Congress are trying to stop the practice of relying on what’s known as restraint and seclusion.

Sydney Morning Herald: In education, one size does not always fit all

Federal Educationn Minister Julia Gillard announced in April that the Education Department would be delivering grants totalling $277.5 million to be spent on “maintenance and minor building works” in NSW. The list includes a host of NSW’s elite schools receiving money for car parks, music rooms and so on. A spokeswoman for Gillard said “in the education revolution, we are not discriminating against school sectors. Our aim is to ensure that every school is a great school”. Meanwhile, Kingsdene Special School is closing due to lack of funds.

Repeated pleas to the Federal Government for financial assistance are met with the stubborn reply that “Kingsdene is receiving the maximum funding according to the formula”. […] We don’t dispute that Kingsdene is receiving the maximum funding according to existing formulas. What we do dispute is the validity of existing funding formulas. In March 2009, a survey of public school principals across NSW, in mainstream and special schools, reported 100 per cent agreement that special education was underfunded and should be linked to students’ level of function, not the irrelevant, antiquated funding formulas currently used. We need new, innovative solutions that address reality.

Herald Sun: School bully makes Tyler Fishlock’s life hell

“I can’t dodge it. I can’t see him coming and I think ‘Oh God, here comes the monster again’,” said Tyler, 7. “I am terrified of him.”

[College director Patrick Waring said] “These are six-year-olds who are having a bit of trouble getting on with each other. We are not talking about high-end bullying, it is just spasmodic bad behaviour.”

Chatterday! Open Thread.

a young brown and white foal galloping up a grassy hillThis is our weekly Chatterday! open thread. Use this open thread to talk amongst yourselves: feel free to share a link, have a vent, or spread some joy.

What have you been reading or watching lately (remembering spoiler warnings)? What are you proud of this week? What’s made your teeth itch? What’s going on in your part of the world? Feel free to add your own images. (Anna insists that these should only be of ponies, but I insist that very small primates, camelids, critters from the weasel family, smooching giraffes, and cupcakes are also acceptable.)

Just whack in a bare link to a webpage, please – admin needs to deal with the HTML code side of things.

Today’s chatterday backcloth comes via The Daily Squee.

Jetstar, AGAIN – this time they refused passage to woman with guide dog

[Jetstar is a discount airline in Australia.]

Further to incidents where Jetstar expected Kurt Fearnley to cool his heels, completely dependent, in a non-self-propellable aisle chair for 90 minutes between checkin and boarding (“Let us drive the wheelchair! It’s safer!), and another incident where Trevor Carroll, being pushed in a chair by airline staff (after they broke his walking frame), was tipped on his head into a gutter (“No really, safer!”): Jetstar have gone the extra mile this week – refusing passage to a guide dog, then shouting at the customer.

The Age reports:

Blind pair says Jetstar refused guide dog

Two weeks ago, Glen Bracegirdle, who is significantly visually impaired but manages without a guide dog, called Jetstar’s call centre to book flights for himself and his partner, Kathryn Beaton. Ms Beaton requires the assistance of Prince, a four-year-old black labrador guide dog.

He said he explained that they would need to fly with the guide dog, at which point the clerk told him: ”No dogs, no dogs, no dogs.”

When he attempted to explain that the dog was trained by Guide Dogs Victoria, the clerk refused to budge*.

He said he was later cut off by a manager who became ”quite loud and angry”.

[*Jetstar’s written policies specifically note that dogs trained by Guide Dogs Victoria, among other trainers, are eligible to fly.]

Jetstar claimed this was a “breakdown in communication”, and once again claimed that they carry hundreds of passengers with disabilities each week without incident.

The couple have sent a complaint to the Human Rights Commission.