By Guest on 3 May, 2010
Alida Brill first landed on the “other planet” of chronic illness at age 12. In those years of the early 1960s, when her symptoms were not easily diagnosed and second-wave feminism was barely on the proverbial map, Alida became a feminist. Doctors ignored her and her mother because Brill’s symptoms were inconsistent and sporadic – and because she was a young girl. She has spent her professional career working for the rights of women and girls undoubtedly informed by those experiences in her young life.
Posted in biography, bodies, books, guest post, identity, social attitudes
By Anna on 14 January, 2010
This is, of course, completely untrue, but there was a concentrated effort to ensure that Keller’s accomplishments were ignored. “Radical Marxist” isn’t as nice a story as “deaf-blind woman overcomes”.
Posted in anna history rants, anna rants, biography, disability activism, feminism, history | Tagged anna rants, helen keller, history, women's history month
By Annaham on 18 December, 2009
A cautionary tale, of sorts: Back when I was a young, naive college freshman, I decided to attend one of those campus service/organization ‘fests (meant to introduce many other naive young things to the services available to them at university)–mostly because it was right in my dorm’s common room. Oh, and they were going to [...]
Posted in biography, bodies, i'm right here, identity, introspective, normality, social attitudes | Tagged ableism, acceptance, cerebral palsy, CP, problematic attitudes, social inclusion, social treatment
By lauredhel on 12 November, 2009
Olde-tyme Hoydenizens may remember that I wrote about Keiko Fukuda back in 2007, in the Friday Hoyden feature. Fukuda is probably the most knowledgeable and accomplished judoka alive, the last living student of Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo. Geekfeminism has an update on Fukuda Sensei, with a snippet of film from documentary “Be Strong, [...]
Posted in biography, feminism, history
By s.e. smith on 11 November, 2009
Today is Remembrance Day/Veterans Day/Poppy Day/Armistice Day, depending on where you are; for USians, it is Veterans Day, and an opportunity to honor American veterans. I come from a family with a long history in the military, on my father’s side. Both of my grandparents were in the Navy during the Second World War, my [...]
Posted in biography, history, introspective, military | Tagged disabled american veterans, family, veterans
By Guest on 4 November, 2009
My life is not a fucking tragedy.
Posted in biography, guest post, social attitudes | Tagged biography, media and pop culture, representation
By abby jean on 29 October, 2009
Samantha Schultz is the author of I Don’t Want to be Crazy, a free verse recounting of her struggles with her anxiety disorder. I haven’t personally read the book, but several of my friends speak highly of it and the Amazon reader reviews seem quite positive. (Although I would skip the School Library Report review, [...]
Posted in activism, biography, media and pop culture, mental health
By Guest on 22 October, 2009
The tension between the visible/invisible aspects of my disability causes me to reside in a sort of twilight world which constantly shifts between my ability to “pass” as “normal” and the very real experience of my disability. Granted, I walk with a limp and my left hand curves to the left because of my tight muscles, so my “passing” is really an illusion.
Posted in biography, guest post | Tagged ableism, accessibility, awareness, cerebral palsy, CP, erasing
By lauredhel on 22 October, 2009
This is cross-posted with permission from the original guest author. It was first posted as a Friday Hoyden feature at Hoyden About Town on September 4, 2009.] This obituary has been provided by Marion May Campbell, who supervised Barbara Moore’s thesis, The Art of Being a Tortoise: Life in the Slow Lane. The thesis is [...]
Posted in biography
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