About s.e. smith
s.e. smith is a recalcitrant, grumpy person with disabilities who enjoys riling people up, talking about language, tearing apart poor science reporting, and chasing cats around the house with squeaky mice in hand. Ou personal website can be found at this ain't livin'.
Website: http://www.meloukhia.net
Contact: meloukhia @ disabledfeminists.com
Posts by s.e. smith
By s.e. smith on 3 September, 2010
Content note: This post includes discussions of sexual and physical violence committed against women and children with disabilities. Last week, Human Rights Watch issued a report, ‘As if We Weren’t Human,’ on the violence, isolation, and discrimination experienced by women and children with disabilities in Uganda. Northern Uganda is emerging from decades of conflict, and [...]
Posted in events, gender, reproductive justice, sexual assault, sexuality | Tagged aid work, rape, recovery, Uganda, violence
By s.e. smith on 2 September, 2010
I stumbled across an article on RE/FORMATIONS, an art show featuring disabled women artists that was exhibited last year, and promptly started playing hopscotch across the Internet, looking up sculpture by disabled artists. I’ve always really loved sculpture because it’s such a tactile art form to me, and one of the greatest experiences of my [...]
Posted in art, creative work | Tagged sculpture
By s.e. smith on 2 September, 2010
Up today, a Global Surf News feature on ‘challenged athletes’ competing in Duke’s Oceanfest, a surfing event held in Hawaii. Oceanfest celebrates Duke Kahanamoku, a Hawaiian surfing legend, and the event is used to raise funds to support scholarships for Hawaiian athletes. This year’s event featured an exhibition by disabled athletes participating in AccesSurf, an [...]
Posted in 101, accessibility, language, media and pop culture, social attitudes | Tagged adaptive aquatic sports, adaptive sports, surfing
By s.e. smith on 1 September, 2010
A fascinating conversation unfolded during the livechat with Prudence this week. A reader wrote in to ask: Q. Should I Have Helped a Disabled Person? A few weeks ago, I was washing my hands in the ladies’ room when a woman with a physical handicap came in. Out of the corner of my eye I [...]
Posted in 101, autonomy, Dear Imprudence | Tagged help, offering help
By s.e. smith on 31 August, 2010
A reader wrote in to ‘Since you asked…’ on Salon last month about her 90 year old mother; I’m going to summarise her letter, because it’s a bit long. The letter writer’s mother has some health conditions and is living independently with a little bit of assistance from the family, but has recently been diagnosed [...]
Posted in age, autonomy, Dear Imprudence | Tagged Cary Tennis, declining medical treatment, older adults, since you asked
By s.e. smith on 27 August, 2010
This week’s livechat with Prudence featured a question that seems to crop up endlessly, like, pretty much whenever a person with a disabled parking placard pulls up to a parking space and gets out of ou car: Q. Parking Lot Etiquette: I live in an apartment that overlooks the building’s handicapped parking spots. I have [...]
Posted in 101, Dear Imprudence | Tagged Dear Prudence, disabled parking, Emily Yoffe, parking, policing
By s.e. smith on 27 August, 2010
Content note: This post contains spoilers for season one, episode seven of Covert Affairs, ‘Communication Breakdown.’ I am nothing if not scrupulously fair to shows I enjoy shredding, so when numerous people informed me that I had to watch this week’s episode of Covert Affairs and write about it, I complied, although I confess I [...]
Posted in media and pop culture, representations | Tagged Auggie, blind characters, Covert Affairs, disabled characters, television
By s.e. smith on 25 August, 2010
Content note: This post includes discussions of the murder and abuse of people with disabilities. Betty Anne Gagnon was 48 years old when she was found curled up in the front seat of a pickup truck in the parking lot of a petrol station near Edmonton, Canada, in November 2009. Her face was heavily bruised [...]
Posted in deaths, events, justice, social attitudes, violence | Tagged abuse, canada, caregiver abuse, murder
By s.e. smith on 24 August, 2010
Carolyn Hax recently got a letter from a pair of concerned grandparents asking about their granddaughter’s sartorial choices: Dear Carolyn: My husband and I are concerned about our 15-year-old granddaughter. She is not the slightest bit interested in makeup or the stylish clothes most teens like. She prefers basketball shorts and a T-shirt over her [...]
Posted in bodies, Dear Imprudence, gender | Tagged Carolyn Hax
By s.e. smith on 23 August, 2010
Last night, The Learning Channel in the United States aired a special on JoAnne Fluke, a dancer from Kansas. Since I’m writing about this on FWD/Forward, I think you can guess that JoAnne Fluke is a disabled woman. Fluke has caudal regression syndrome, a congenital condition of the lower spine. She was given a prognosis [...]
Posted in 101, bodies, i'm right here, media and pop culture, normality | Tagged wheelchair dancing
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