Emily Bazelon at the New York Times Magazine: The New Abortion Providers

This abortion-rights campaign, led by physicians themselves, is trying to recast doctors, changing them from a weak link of abortion to a strong one. Its leaders have built residency programs and fellowships at university hospitals, with the hope that, eventually, more and more doctors will use their training to bring abortion into their practices. The bold idea at the heart of this effort is to integrate abortion so that it’s a seamless part of health care for women — embraced rather than shunned.

gwen at Sociological Images: Power = Masculine, Weakness = Feminine

At least according to this thesaurus, masculinity is powerful, capable, competent; femininity is weak and incompetent. There’s a sexual component as well — notice that power is associated with being virile, while weakness = lustless. Of course, we also associate men and masculinity with the active pursuit of sex, while women are supposed to be the objects of pursuit, not actively sexual.

Kristen Cashore at This is My Secret (via jadelennox at access_fandom): A Voice Recognition Software Demonstration

I have this thing called thoracic outlet syndrome, which isn’t the point of this post, so I won’t get into it too much here. Basically, it’s a neck/shoulder/arm/wrist/hand/fingers pain thing, + hand/finger agility thing, that I can manage about 80% of the time with daily stretches; that 17% of the time causes me discomfort, but doesn’t limit what I’m able to do (you’ve seen the pictures); and 3% of the time makes simple motions like turning a doorknob or flipping through a pile of paper prohibitively painful and renders me incapable of typing. Copious typing is on the small list of things that causes it to flare up to that level.

Dorian at Dorianisms: (My) Disabilities and Sex

Conversations about physical disabilities and sexuality are incredibly important. I am glad they are being had, and that I have had the opportunity to be a part of several in the extremely recent past. However. I feel like my particular (almost entirely mental) issues definitely have an impact on my sexuality and sexual behaviour, and I haven’t been a part of as many conversations that centre mental issues (though I have no doubt such conversations do exist, especially Here On the Internet).

Warning: Offsite links are not safe spaces. Articles and comments in the links may contain ableist, sexist, and other -ist language and ideas of varying intensity. Opinions expressed in the articles may not reflect the opinions held by the compiler of the post and links are provided as topics of interest and exploration only. I attempt to provide extra warnings for material like extreme violence/rape; however, your triggers/issues may vary, so please read with care.

Sasha Feather at Access Fandom: Better microphone use at conventions: a report

Microphone use: pretty good, but myself and others definitely encountered able-bodied privilege in the form of people claiming their voices are good enough, loud enough, and gosh darnit mics just aren’t natural. In smaller rooms, mic use was worse than in larger rooms. Some people were “mic hogs” (not good at sharing or passing microphones); therefore more mics would be better for 6-panelist panels. Some people gestured with the mics or held them too far from their faces. I believe this shift in culture will take several years but we are off to a good start.

The Quixotic Autistic: Fröken Salander & Me: How a misanthropic computer hacker will change autism in literature and life (Potential spoilers for The Millennium Trilogy)

It’s not just revolutionary because it has a character with autism. It has a person with autism as one of the main characters (I don’t think the word ‘protagonist’ is proper here) and often narrates using her point of view. Usually when this is attempted, it’s clumsy and ham-fisted, and filled with overly flowery prose about connecting to the outside world, or else presents the person as a narrow-minded tabula rasa with no personality, only a long series of ramblings regarding interests in very obscure subjects (I’m looking at you, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time!) Salander however, is given the full force of a well-developed personality, and while she is presented with savant-like abilities, she is shown to be tormented by them, her photographic memory in particular.

Astrid: Open Letter To My Body

I am autistic. Autism affects the way I perceive stimuli. For example, I tend to be somewhat hypeersensitive to noise. However, my autistic way of perceiving also relates to my internal sensations. When I feel a physical symptom or sensation, I cannot always localize it or describe its intensity. For example, I have dealt with abdominal pain for about three years now, but it took me forever to recognize firstly that it wasn’t normal, and secondly, to localize the pain. Sometimes, I perceive ordinary sensations, such as hunger, as painful. When I deal with pain at the same time, it all adds up and overwhelms me. Overload further impairs my perception of internal and external stimuli by either agravating or diminishing sensation.

BlindGal: My First Accessible Cell Phone

Last week I purchased my first accessible cell phone, and I can’t believe I waited this long. I have been a cell phone user for over 8 years, but not until now have I been able to do anything but make and receive calls. You may be thinking that should be enough, but with all that cell phones can do, I was really paying for features I couldn’t use. I couldn’t even tell who was calling me or if I had messages waiting for me. Thanks to Apple and their commitment to making their products accessible to all their customers, the Iphone 3gs is opening new doors to me.

Forced Migration Review: Disability and Displacement (Free download)

It is not common practice to include people with disabilities among those who are considered as particularly vulnerable in disasters and displacement and who therefore require targeted response – yet statistics tell us that up to 10% of all displaced people will have a disability.

The 27 feature theme articles in this issue of FMR show why disabled people who are displaced need particular consideration and highlight some of the initiatives taken (locally and at the global level) to change thinking and practices so that their vulnerability is recognised, their voices heard – and responses made inclusive.

At Access Tourism NZ: Colombia Nears Goal to Become World’s First Country with Accessible Bus Rapid Transit Service in Every Major City While NZ Lags

The June 201 Access Exchange Newsletter reports that Colombia is amongst world leaders in providing Accessible Bus Rapid Transit services for people with disabilities (PwDs). Meanwhile in New Zealand, The NZ Tourism Guide (one of our largest tourism guide websites) advises that “most urban transport buses are not equipped to cater for the disabled.”

“If the world’s megacities are to be livable places in years to come, the Colombian approach to public transit is likely to be a big part of the solution. Access to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) by passengers with disabilities, which means better access for everybody, is a cutting edge feature of this solution” says Tom Rickert of Access Exchange International

New Straights Times: Magazine took away my date (via email)

I wish to highlight an incident where a disabled person was discriminated against.

Anti-Rec (although some points for actually talking to blind people when developing the show): DVR Playground: Setting his sights on a new challenge, Christopher Gorham Talks COVERT AFFAIRS

Actor Christopher Gorham relishes a challenge.

Or at least that’s the distinct impression one walks away with following some time spent with the actor on a recent visit to the set of COVERT AFFAIRS, USA’s latest summer series in which he plays blind CIA operative Auggie Anderson.

Exciting and daunting. Particularly when one takes into account the added responsibility Gorham signed up for which has the actor putting a very public face a blind/visually impaired minority that unfortunately gets little to no exposure on primetime television. A responsibility that not surprisingly is not the least bit lost on the well spoken actor.

If you’re on Delicious, feel free to tag entries ‘disfem’ or ‘disfeminists,’ or ‘for:feminists’ to bring them to our attention! Link recommendations can also be emailed to recreading[@]disabledfeminists[.]com

Warning: Offsite links are not safe spaces. Articles and comments in the links may contain ableist, sexist, and other -ist language and ideas of varying intensity. Opinions expressed in the articles may not reflect the opinions held by the compiler of the post and links are provided as topics of interest and exploration only. I attempt to provide extra warnings for material like extreme violence/rape; however, your triggers/issues may vary, so please read with care.

INCITE: Women of Color Against Violence: Stop Law Enforcement Violence

WHAT IS “LAW ENFORCEMENT VIOLENCE?”

We use the term “law enforcement violence” to reflect an analysis that includes police brutality by local, state and federal police, as well as immigration enforcement officers, Border Patrol, private security, and military forces. We use the terms “police brutality” and “law enforcement violence” alternatively to mean the same thing.

The Next Disability Blog Carnival will be at Brilliant Mind, Broken Body! Kali’s looking for submissions to be in by August 18th.

At Transportation Access: Harry’s Transportation Woes Live On

A month before activist Harry Wieder was tragically struck and killed by a taxi, he sent a 26-paragraph email to the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) telling the agency that parking and transportation regulations were progressively making his life more difficult.
Wieder, a paraparetic dwarf who drove a car for 40 years, said the rise of pedestrian malls on public streets prevent drivers with disabilities from directly accessing sidewalks, and that an increase in “No Standing” and “No Stopping” signs in the past few years have blocked parking at places including Lincoln Center, the Stonewall Bar and the West 47th Street Diamond District, where his family works.

L^2 at Dog’s Eye View: Not as We

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the day Willow and I were matched at Leader Dogs for the Blind. Since Willow’s retirement last March, as well as increasingly for six to eight months before that, I have been navigating my world as “I” not as “we” and yes, it has been a bit lonely.

Since Willow almost always lead the way on our daily adventures, it was tough to start leaving her behind. On those rare occasions during our partnership when she didn’t go along it always felt odd, like something was missing. But since she retired, I’ve had to go it alone all the time, while I continue to wait to be matched with a new guide dog.

Terajk did up a transcript of an interview with Dr. Shana Nichols about autistic girls and women at Transcripts for Everyone: [Note: There is mention of murder through domestic violence at the beginning of this transcript]

Just remembering the young girl I was working with, I spoke to my supervisor and I asked: “We’re not seeing a lot of girls. There are a lot of families out there who have nowhere to turn to. There’s no resources for them. Could I start a group this summer for girls? A girl talk group, for them to learn how to call each other on the phone, learn to have a party, work on conversation skills.” It was a huge success. We had so many families contact us. The moms themselves were just so happy to have finally found a community of other families who were sharing their experiences with them. The girls themselves had been in social skills groups where they were the only girl. They often were just beyond thrilled, and as part of that group, I began to explore a lot of the issues that I’ve seen girls and women face: whether it’s [unknown] issues, puberty, interest in dating, mental health and anxiety, really low self-esteem. From there it just really took off.

Moving to New York was the launching point, where I began to work with a couple of my colleagues. We continued to develop our girls’ program, and I finally just said: “Enough is enough. There are no resources out there for parents of girls and for clinicians. So it’s time for us to write the book.”

Life, plus one (service dog)

Hudson is my service dog, a 3 year old labradoodle who I have been with for almost a year. I actually break one of the rules our trainers set out for us – when Hudson and I are in the house, Hudson is almost never on a leash, because he’s so well behaved. With very rare exceptions (like really needing a drink or to go outside), Hudson never leaves the room I’m in, and never runs to anyone or anything, so I don’t worry about him not being leashed. Unlike most service dogs, Hudson has very little interest in the outside world, so he’s not about to run to the doorbell or run outside given the opportunity.

So here’s what a normal day looks like, living with Hudson.

Leah Jane at Quixotic Autistic:We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that (s)he is someone today. ~Stacia Tauscher

It’s not just the fact that they are humiliating these children in the public sphere that is problematic, or insulting them in front of all, with words like “empty”, “husk”, “broken”, “sickened”, “damaged”, “stolen”, “near dead” and “ill” being liberally applied. The very fact that children, particularly when it involves nonverbal children, are being used as pawns to advance the political/social agendas of adults is downright sickening. Children are not the property of their parents, to be displayed at their whim, or used as a bargaining chip in an ideological debate. They are individuals, and yet, their freedom and their power to decide their destiny is often marginalized due to the wishes of adults who hold power over them, whether it be parents, teachers, or caretakers. Especially concerning disabled children.

If you’re on Delicious, feel free to tag entries ‘disfem’ or ‘disfeminists,’ or ‘for:feminists’ to bring them to our attention! Link recommendations can also be emailed to recreading[@]disabledfeminists[.]com

Warning: Offsite links are not safe spaces. Articles and comments in the links may contain ableist, sexist, and other -ist language and ideas of varying intensity. Opinions expressed in the articles may not reflect the opinions held by the compiler of the post and links are provided as topics of interest and exploration only. I attempt to provide extra warnings for material like extreme violence/rape; however, your triggers/issues may vary, so please read with care.

Doug Draper at Niagra at Large: Thorold, Ontario Amputee Has His Artificial Leg Ripped Off By Police And Is Slammed In Makeshift Cell During G20 Summit – At Least One Ontario MPP Calls The Whole Episode “Shocking” [via several sources, thank you!] [Trigger Warning for Description of Police-related violence]

The 57-year-old Thorold, Ontario resident – an employee with Revenue Canada and a part-time farmer who lost a leg above his knee following a farming accident 17 years ago – was sitting on the grass at Queen’s Park with his daughter Sarah and two other young people this June 26, during the G20 summit, where he assumed it would be safe.

As it turned out, it was a bad assumption because in came a line of armoured police, into an area the city had promised would be safe for peaceful demonstrations during the summit. They closed right in on John and his daughter and the two others and ordered them to move. Pruyn tried getting up and he fell, and it was all too slow for the police.

RELATED: Amnesty International: Sign Petition: Independent review of G20 security needed

Mia at Leaving Evidence: Reflecting on Frida Kahlo’s Birthday and The Importance of Recognizing Ourselves for (in) Each Other

I often think about Frida and what it means to recognize each other, as disabled queer women of color. I don’t know if Frida would have described herself as “disabled;” if she would have even used that language, that thinking. Would she have thought of herself as what we understand as “queer,” using whatever language and words she chose around her open bisexuality? I don’t know.

I found Frida when I was young, and it seems I have been continuing to find her my whole life. Frida was originally introduced to me when I was a young teenager as a feminist symbol; as a “strong woman of color artist.” As one of the few non-black woman of color thrown in amongst majority white women, I remembered her. It was only later that I found out she, like me, had polio as a child and about her bisexuality.

Dave Hingsburger: Marching for Respect (See footnote for image & video descriptions) [1. There is a video and two images at this link. The images are of card that reads “Words hit like a fist” with a rainbow background on one side. The other side reads “Walk by any school yard. There are two words that kids hurl at each other. ‘Retard’ ‘Faggot’. Words intended to hurt us simply because we want to ‘be’ who we ‘are’. Words hurt. We all know that. We join in the fight for a society that welcomes all. And besides, what is more ‘gay’ than knowing the real ‘R’ word is ‘Respect’. Join us in eliminating hate from speech. vitacls.org”.

The video description: A Pride Parade held in Toronto. The street is lined with cheering spectators waving their hands. The video opens on people marching with a large banner that says ‘Living in 3D.’ More people walk past holding a variety of signs that are difficult to read because of the poor video quality, and we see a powerchair user motoring along with them. Many of the marchers are wearing rainbow clothing or ornaments and at least one sign says ‘straight but not narrow.’ More people march by and a small bus approaches, with a powerchair user moving alongside. The side of the bus reads ‘Care Toronto: Caring for Seniors and People With Disabilities’ and it has been decorated with a rainbow pride flag. (description by s.e.smith)]

Our goal was to get as many as we could into the hands of those watching the parade. There were millions of people watching. We had to wait for nearly two hours to start marching, so I went up and down the line and found as many marching groups as I could that I thought really could use the cards, teachers federations, summer camps for kids, disability transport services, the works. I approached them, told them who Vita was and what our message was and handed out the cards.

Goldjadeocean: A Data point

Asking for accommodations for disability is a complicated thing. Sometimes it’s easy, it’s simple, it’s understandable. Sometimes, it gets you in even more shit.

I have a mobility impairment. One leg is shorter than the other; my short leg has a small foot that doesn’t fit well into shoes. Walking long distances on uncertain footing (like normal street pavement) stresses my damaged knee, and increases the already-good chances that I will misstep, fall, and damage my weak ankle.

…

I have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (or, I had it–I no longer meet diagnostic criteria for it). I am generally good unless I am triggered in one of the specific areas my obsessions fall into–gory violent injury, or “creepy crawlies” (insects, arachnids, reptiles, fish). Being triggered, for me, can cause obsessions (repetitive unpleasant thoughts I cannot get rid of), heightened anxiety, or visual and tactile hallucinations.

Federal Court Rules in Favor of Transgender Woman Represented by Lambda Legal After She Was Fired By Georgia General Assembly

Late Friday, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruled that the Georgia General Assembly discriminated against Lambda Legal client Vandy Beth Glenn, a transgender woman who was fired from her job as Legislative Editor after she told her supervisor that she planned to transition from male to female.

BendyGirl at Disability Voices: DLA: Clearing Up Confusion

DLA is a NON means tested benefit and this will not be affected by the proposed changes. DLA is a basic recognition that to be disabled means to bear extra, unavoidable costs. DLA is in two parts, a care component and a mobility component. DLA is not an out of work benefit, had they wanted to the Cameron’s would have been entitled to claim DLA for their profoundly disabled son Ivan. Many of those in receipt of DLA work in either full or part time roles, which they would not be able to do so without the extra financial support DLA provides. The costs of disability don’t go away because someone is able to enter the workplace, if anything the costs associated with disability often rise when someone is working as they have less time and energy to deal with daily living tasks than they did when they were not working.

Belleisa at Racialicious: Whose allowed to tell the tale? (And which tales should they tell?)

McFadden argues that many black authors, aside from the few who have crossed over into the mainstream, get relegated to the “seg-book-gation.” She does acknowledge that black writers have an easier time getting published than they used to, although the op-ed slips in and out of preachy academic theory (she mentions colonialism). But her initial argument, about authorial authenticity and which authors get the better marketing support for the same types of stories, takes a quick dive into condescension.

If you’re on Delicious, feel free to tag entries ‘disfem’ or ‘disfeminists,’ or ‘for:feminists’ to bring them to our attention! Link recommendations can also be emailed to recreading[@]disabledfeminists[.]com

NOLA.com – Louisiana renews request for mental health funding from BP

The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals is again requesting $10 million from BP to fund ongoing mental health services in communities affected by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, after a request made on May 28 failed to spur any action. In a second letter to Doug Suttles, BP America’s chief operating officer, Louisiana DHH Secretary Alan Levine asked the company Monday to set aside $10 million to support outreach efforts by the department’s Louisiana Spirit teams and pay for “a needed spectrum of therapeutic and psychiatric services” offered through local districts and community organizations.

Examiner.com – Accessible technology for all students, including those with disabilities

Yesterday, the Departments of Justice and Education announced the publication of a joint ‘Dear Colleague‘ letter reaffirming the agencies’ commitment to ensuring students with disabilities have equal access to emerging technologies in institutions of higher education. The new ‘Dear Colleague’ letter is in response to the use of Kindle electronic book readers by certain colleges and universities. Kindle devices are not accessible to students who are blind or those with low vision. While many of the devices have a text-to-speech function, which “reads” on-screen print out loud, they lack menus and controls that individuals who are blind or have low vision can navigate. The Department of Justice recently entered into settlement agreements with colleges and universities that used the Kindle as part of a pilot project, and the Department of Education has resolved similar complaints against colleges and universities. As a result, the universities agreed not to purchase, require, or recommend use of Kindle devices, or any other electronic book reader that is not accessible, unless reasonable accommodations are made.

Arab News – Learning disabilities: A reality in the Kingdom

Learning disabilities (LD) affect around 4 to 10 percent of every country’s population, including Saudi Arabia. Considered a high incidence disability, learning disabilities represent nearly 50 percent of all disabilities. “In Saudi Arabia, we don’t have any valid standardized tool in Arabic that we can use to identify individuals with learning disabilities. However, based on the international prevalence rate, we expect to have a minimum of 215,000 students in our school systems struggling with LD,” says Dr. Saja Jamjoom, Program Manager for the Learning Disabilities Program at the Prince Salman Center for Disability Research based in Riyadh.

Discover Magazine Blog – New Nicaraguan sign language shows how language affects thought

In the 1970s, a group of deaf Nicaraguan schoolchildren invented a new language. The kids were the first to enrol in Nicaragua’s new wave of special education schools. At first, they struggled with the schools’ focus on Spanish and lip-reading, but they found companionship in each other. It was the first time that deaf people from all over the country could gather in large numbers and through their interactions – in the schoolyard and the bus – Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL) spontaneously came into being. By studying children who learned NSL at various stages of its development, Pyers has shown that the vocabulary they pick up affects the way they think. Specifically, those who learned NSL before it developed specific gestures for left and right perform more poorly on a spatial awareness test than children who grew up knowing how to sign those terms.

Wheelie Catholic – Some thoughts on the 20th anniversary of the ADA

We’re in the midst of many changes, some good, some bad. As we celebrate our progress, cutbacks threaten our right to live in the communities we care so much about. Too many of our brothers and sisters with disabilities still remain in institutions, faceless and often voiceless. They can only dream of an opportunity like the disability blog carnival, in which our voices are heard. Each time we speak up for change, we help ready our communities for our children and others who may not be able to speak for themselves. We may not feel like doing it, we may do it and feel as if we’re unheard, or we may even be silenced by families and friends who fail to understand our unwillingness to suffer indignities. Despite this, we need to realize that showing up matters. The words that accompanied the signing of the ADA still ring in the air, even though we have a long way to go, especially with employment of people with disabilities.

The Tyee – Don’t Write About Me Just Because I’m Disabled

At other points in my life, such as when I was featured in an article in the Elliot Lake Standard, I have been portrayed with pity as well as having superhero status: “Though bound to a wheelchair, unable to move her limbs, her voice silenced by a severe form of cerebral palsy.” When I see myself portrayed this way, I feel uncomfortable because I do not want people to feel sorry for me. I do not feel mentioning my disabilities was necessary. By stating I was wheelchair-bound, the reporter made it sound as though I’m not able to participate in daily activities. The media places much emphasis on portraying people with disabilities as victims and heroes, which causes people with disabilities to feel they might not be normal unless they fit into one of these stereotypical categories. Others probably view people with disabilities the same way. This creates a distorted picture of our society.