By Anna on 14 December, 2010
Interviewer: There’s a suggestion that you were rolling towards the police in your wheelchair. Is that true?
JM: I think justifying a police officer pulling a disabled person out of a wheelchair and dragging them across a concrete road is quite ridiculous and I’m surprised that you’ve just tried to do so.
Interview: So that’s not true, you were not wheeling yourself towards the police.
JM: Well I can’t physically use my wheelchair myself. My brother was pushing me. I think it’s quite obvious from the footage that I was 100% not a threat to anyone.
Posted in activism, blaming, media and pop culture, news, resistance, Videos, violence | Tagged budget cuts, cuts, jody mcintyre, police violence, transcript, tuition increase, UK
By Anna on 9 December, 2010
I suppose this is technically correct. Howard’s death was not because he was mentally ill, his death was because the police were ill-equipped to deal with someone having a mental health crisis. I don’t have statistics about the number of men having mental health crises that are murdered by police officers every year, but I do know that I can’t go a whole month without at least one report, and it’s an issue that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada feels needs to be addressed.
Posted in blaming, deaths, justice, news, politics, social attitudes, violence | Tagged abuse, canada, halifax, Howard Hyde, hyde inquiry, mental health, murder, nova scotia, police violence, schizophrenia
By abby jean on 8 December, 2010
s.e. emailed me an alert to this Atlantic post by Derek Thompson about the potential hidden costs of failing to extend unemployment insurance benefits, with a warning that I would likely ‘enjoy’ it. So I clicked through with trepidation. Rightfully so. I’ll excerpt the relevant piece here so you don’t need to reward this nonsense [...]
Posted in blaming, news, policy, poverty | Tagged abby talks policy, wonk time
By Anna on 6 December, 2010
Don and I went to see a movie the other night, and gosh, we had fun! I mean, there’s nothing funner than going out for a nice evening with your husband and being confronted straight on with the knowledge that one of the scariest things some people can imagine is being forced to live with someone like you! Yay, fun times for everyone!
Posted in anna rants, blaming, Education, media and pop culture, mental health, movies, othering, representations, shaming
By Annaham on 8 November, 2010
One of the more bizarre stereotypes (if one can call it that) about people with fibromyalgia is that we obsess over “every little ache and pain,” to the detriment of ourselves and much to the apparent annoyance of the “normal” people around us. Here’s the thing: If I were to obsess over my pain in [...]
Posted in 101, blaming, normality, othering, social attitudes | Tagged abled privilege, chronic illness, chronic pain conditions, disabled people are scary, fibromyalgia, myths and misconceptions, normal is only one option, pain management, positive thinking, rethinking social norms, social attitudes, this all sounds awfully familiar
By Ouyang Dan on 25 October, 2010
I have a little bit of a problem with people being handed down a mandate that insists they behave in a certain way or adhere to a certain set of guidelines for which they are not provided the means to do so. Usually, these rules or mandates are set by people whose lives the rules [...]
Posted in activism, blaming, bodies, disability activism, intersectionality, invisibility, medical practice, oyd rants, social attitudes | Tagged abled privilege, ableism, accessibility, barriers to access, blaming, cancer treatment, chronic illness, disability, health care is an accessibility issue, intersectionality, medical care, radiation, Representative Edward Markey, social treatment, thyroid cancer
By Anna on 23 September, 2010
Frankly, if the Federal Government doesn’t think that their websites provide information in a timely fashion, and that access to that information isn’t something that they should prioritize, why are they bothering with them in the first place? And if they do think it’s important, why are they in essence arguing that “It’s important for most people, but not for the three million Canadians who won’t be able to access it?”
Posted in accessibility, Accessible Tech, activism, anna rants, blaming, disability activism, how to be accessible, justice, make the world a better place, news, normality, othering, policy, politics, signal boost, social attitudes, technology | Tagged canada, canadian
By s.e. smith on 15 September, 2010
On last week’s Dear Amy, a reader wrote in for some relationship advice. The reader’s girlfriend is becoming more distant, and the reader wants to know what to do: Dear Amy: I have been in a relationship with a woman for two years. I love her. She says she loves me. She says she wants [...]
Posted in blaming, Dear Imprudence, mental health, social attitudes | Tagged Amy Dickinson, Ask Amy, bipolar disorder
By Anna on 7 September, 2010
Not being from the US, I had this idea in my head that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) must be awesome. I mean, come on! It’s been 20 years now! Ramps to every building, disability friendly policies, accessible washrooms in every hotel lobby! I get all starry-eyed just thinking about it.
People with disabilities who have actually been in the US are probably either rolling their eyes or giggling at my naivety.
Posted in accessibility, Accessible Tech, anna rants, blaming, disability activism, i'm right here, identity, invisibility, media and pop culture, news, normality, othering, policy, politics, representations, shaming, social attitudes, work
By abby jean on 17 August, 2010
Here in Los Angeles, we’ve recently witnessed an explosion of billboards, radio ads, and other solicitations for people to get weight loss surgeries. The ads make it sound so attractive – “let your new life begin, call 1-800-GET-SLIM!” And each of the billboards prominently advertises that they accept payment from Medi-Cal (CA’s Medicaid program) or [...]
Posted in blaming, bodies, class issues, marketing, medical practice | Tagged evil, lap band, predatory lending
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