Category Archives: signal boost

Signal Boost: The Attitude Test discusses Screen Readers TODAY

Via email

On this week’s Attitude Test, we will, as usual take a look at the news and put our distinctive slant thereon, all ready for you to disagree with if you want to.

The main subject this week concerns screenreaders.

The simple question, though with, I feel some complicated answers is: are we witnessing the demise of the stand-alone screenreader such as JAWS and Window-Eyes? With Apple now putting a screenreader in many of their products as a standard part of their system, is this the way things will go.

Is there much left for the major screenreader manufacturers to do? A new version of JAWS is coming soon, but most of what has been done in this new version are fixes to existing problems. Could it be that Microsoft may well decide to incorporate one of the major screenreaders into their own products?

We want your views on this.

You can interact with the program in several ways: either by skype at
the.global.voice, by email and msn at yourvoice@theglobalvoice.info, or by using one of our three phone numbers you can find on our website:
The Global Voice.

That’s the Attitude Test live on Sunday at 18:00 UTC, that’s 2 pm Eastern, 11 am Pacific in the US, 7 pm in the UK and 8 pm in Central Europe

Let your voice be heard on the Attitude Test, on the one and only Global Voice.

Signal Boost: Submissions Requested for the September Disability Blog Carnival

Astrid, of Astrid’s Journal, has agreed after much consideration to host the September edition of the Disability Blog Carnival, and we at FWD/Forward are enthusiastic to support that decision!

Astrid has chosen the theme “Identity”:

Think of it as broadly as you want. Posts relating to transforming identities, are of course especially welcome, as they honor both themes. Just a reminder that, even though this is a disability blog carnival, we honor intersectionality, so racial, ethnic, gender, sexual and any other type of identities also count, as long as the post is somewhat relevant to disability.

Comments can be submitted preferably here or else at the Disability Studies, Temple U. blog. The deadline for submissions will be Tuesday night, September 21 – Tuesday night your time, so don’t worry about my living in Europe. I hope to post the carnival on Friday, September 24 – whenever it suits me, my time.

We hope you will consider submitting something for the Carnival. Remember, the theme is a way to get you started, and we hope that you will interpret it to how it applies to your own situation, keeping the general spirit of intersectionality in mind.

Again, thanks to Astrid for taking this on, because without volunteers, there would be no Carnival!

Be sure, if you haven’t already, to check out the August edition of The Disability Carnival at Brilliant Mind, Broken Body, hosted by Kali.

Signal Boost: The August Edition of The Disability Blog Carnival is Up at Brilliant Mind, Broken Body

Reader Astrid informs me that The Disability Blog Carnival is up and on the go for August at Brilliant Mind, Broken Body, courtesy of Kali.

This Month’s theme is “distance”:

I think distance is an interesting concept because we use the same word to mean so many different things – the space between ideas, the space between here and there, the space between you and me, the space between us and them, the space passage of time creates, the difference between where we started and where we have gotten to, the space between understanding and not. Intentional spaces, ideological spaces, physical spaces, metaphorical spaces. It’s a word that I think sometimes encompasses much of the disability experience, because there always seem to be more distances we have to deal with.

Please swing on over to Brilliant Mind, Broken Body and give Kali some love, some support, some kudos, and maybe an Internet Tradition for the hard work.

Signal Boost! The Fight For Reproductive Justice

Some of you may know that most of us here are FWD/Forward lurk around at other places doing other things when we are not toiling on the backend here at the humble blog. I happen to spend a bit of my time writing under my actual name over at Change.org’s Women’s Rights blog as the Military Beat Girl.

Two issues involving reproductive justice have passed over my RADAR here and there, and I hope you all will humor me in bringing the issue here to you all, in the hopes that you will give them the appropriate attention, and also in hopes that you might boost them where you have the opportunity.

First: As you may have heard, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently decided to pull a Stupak and have collectively taken the decision regarding abortion out of the hands of people who may need to seek coverage in the so-called High Risk Insurance Pools.

[Action Item at the link.]

Basically, it means that, aside from a glaring disregard for women’s health, and no nod whatsoever to the fact that a woman is capable of making decisions about her health care, women who are already medically vulnerable. This rule cuts them off from receiving any abortion coverage whatsoever even if they attempt to pay for it out of their own already strapped pockets.

In short, they do not trust women.

High-risk pools are meant to provide coverage to people who have been denied insurance due to pre-existing conditions, such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, and a slew of other chronic illnesses, conditions, disabilities, or diseases. These conditions could make pregnancy potentially harmful, exacerbate the condition, or just plain more stressful to an already stressed body, or even mentally hurtful (though, Obama has made it clear that mental health does not count, eh?).

s.e. smith wrote an excellent post about high-risk pools that I recommend, if like me you don’t fully understand high-risk pools.

Second is a fight that has been dear to my heart for quite some time. It is the ban on abortions in military medical facilities.

[Action Item at the link!]

Illinois Senator Roland Burris introduced an amendment that would repeal the current ban barring women in uniform and military dependent women from procuring abortion services in military facilities, even if they pay for it with their own money except in the case of incest, rape or imminent threat to the woman’s life. The committee approved this amendment and plans to introduce it as part of the Defense Authorization Act.

Currently U.S. military women in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Djibouti, and the Republic of Korea (to name a few) are barred from getting abortions by the nature of where they were ordered to go. They are not available in military facilities except in extreme cases, and the the countries where they live have laws against them in most instances. The law discriminates against those women by first ordering them to a country where a service that is safe and legal in the U.S. is inaccessible and then denying them the care they could seek out if stationed there.

Further reading on the military abortion ban.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled reading.

Weekly Events Roundup

Disclaimer: We don’t endorse any of these events. I just gather them from my email contacts or from places I see them online. Pretty much everything I know is what I’ve got here.

Should you wish to suggest an event, please email me! anna AT disabledfeminists DOT com. Thank you!

Calls for PapersCanadian EventsInternational Events (Offline)

Calls for Papers Relevant To Disability:

Call for Proposals: Disability in America: Voices of a New Generation

We are seeking creative non-fiction essays from young people with disabilities ages 13-30 (some flexibility will be available for compelling submissions from individuals slightly outside our preferred age range). People with all types of disabilities are welcome to submit. Speaking from personal experience is strongly encouraged. The intent of this project is to use personal voices to capture the experience of the new generation of young people with disabilities.

Submissions should range from 2,000 to 5,000 words. Please include your address, phone number, e-mail address and a short bio on the manuscript.

Proposals are due by e-mail to voicesoftheadageneration@gmail.com to January 15, 2011 but we encourage and will consider for approval early submissions. Please e-mail co-editors Stacey Milbern and Ari Ne’eman at voicesoftheadageneration@gmail.com with questions.

Fat Masculinities, A Special Issue of Men and Masculinities

As an interdisciplinary field, fat studies has drawn from significant roots of feminist and women’s literature. The socio-historic norms and policing of women’s embodiment and power continue to be important areas study, but the cultural influence upon and experience of men and masculine-identified individuals offers a rich opportunity for investigation and dialogue. This special issue seeks to establish an interdisciplinary academic discussion of fat manhood and masculinities.

Submission details: Manuscripts and inquiries are to be directed to Daniel Farr, guest editor, at DFarr@randolphcollege.edu or 434-947-8561. Authors may contact the editor in advance of submission with proposals and queries. Email submissions preferred.

CALL FOR PAPERS From disabled writers

Disabled people * a right to live?

All three papers will take a social model approach and will address the issues around the Right to Live agenda for disabled people from birth through to death. We are interested to show how each individual paper relates to the others. The papers should explore the impact on British society; compare/contrast with the values of other cultures (especially non-Western); how the issues are driven/influenced by the tug between secular and non-secular, cultural beliefs and by financial resources agenda which may be hidden under the guise of ‘rights’, ‘choice’, ‘control’ and ‘ethical/moral’ considerations

The papers will address one of the following:-

a) Pressures that families / parents may face, during a pregnancy, to terminate a life due to either impairment of the foetus or the mother’s and/or father’s impairment,
b) The involuntary mercy killing of disabled people by professionals / paid carers / family members and friends
c) The ‘Right to Die’ issues, euthanasia, and assisted suicide relating to disabled people.

Contact: Gary Timperley
Policy and Research Assistant
Breakthrough UK Ltd
Business Employment Venture Centre
Aked Close
Ardwick
Manchester
M12 4AN
Tel. – 0161 273 5412
Fax – 0161 274 4053

Canada:

Disability and Deaf arts in Nova Scotia – A representative from the Canada Council for the Arts will be in Halifax the second week of September and is interested in meeting with artists within the “disabled and deaf” communities. Please share this information with anyone you know that might be interested. The Disability Arts Officer, Elizabeth Sweeney, with the Canada Council for the Arts is working on a series of policies so that the Canada Council can better support artists with disabilities and Deaf artists, and those working in the Disability and Deaf arts sectors. Ms. Sweeney will be visiting Nova Scotia during the second week of September, to visit with local artists, arts professionals and scholars in these sectors, to learn about their practices and discuss the local arts environment. She is looking for any contacts or names of artists with disabilities or Deaf artists, (or organizations supporting artists, arts professionals, etc…) including those working in Visual arts, Theatre, Music, Dance, Writing, Media, Film, Aboriginal, or Integrated arts. ANY help, is greatly appreciated. Please contact Elizabeth at elizabeth.sweeney@canadacouncil.ca, 1.800.263.5588 ext. 4689, TTY : 1-877-688-5501

International Events:

Calling all deaf women!
We have recently launched two videos in ASL (American Sign Language) – one explaining WW 2011 : [Invitation to Deaf Women], another inviting deaf women to respond to the ‘Call for Participation’. [Answer the Call]
Please help spread the word by circulating the links broadly through your networks.

Signal Boost: DisAbling Feminism: Sex, Gender, and Disability Studies

Hey, you! Do you sometimes find yourself asking the following…?

What are important conversations taking place between feminism and Disability Studies? How can a feminist approach (whatever that means) to abilism/ability/able-bodied privilege (however defined) raise new questions regarding the self, the state, the workplace and cultural conceptions of disability? How does Disability Studies force a reconsideration of traditional concepts within feminist theory and Women’s & Gender Studies?

Then you are very possibly an academic interested in the intersection of disability and gender, and might be interested in the Annual Meeting of the Critical Feminist Studies Division of the Cultural Studies Association over in the US!

The Critical Feminist Studies Division of the Cultural Studies Association (CSA) invites submissions for the 9th Annual Meeting to be held at Columbia College in Chicago, March 24-26, 2011.

[…]

To submit, please include the following:

1. Your name, email address, phone number, and institutional affiliation

2. Paper/presentation title

3. 500-word abstract

Deadline for submissions: September 1, 2010.

Send inquires and submissions to:

Sarah L. Rasmusson & Sabrina Starnaman

Co-Chairs, Critical Feminist Studies Division

criticalfeministstudies@gmail.com

You can find full topic and submission details here.

Event: August 17: A Non-Visual Perspective on Self-Defense

via email

Accessible World ClassRoom of the Air presents A Non-Visual Perspective on Self-Defense, August 17, 2010

In this seminar, Larry Lewis, President of Flying Blind LLC will be discussing non-visual strategies for self-defense techniques that can be used by persons who are blind/visually impaired. Lewis has studied a few different martial arts but has found his passion in training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a grappling-based Martial Art with a highly affective self-defense component that requires no vision to learn and utilize.

Lewis will be discussing the components of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as well as the pluses of training in this amazing martial art as well as offering strategies for avoiding conflict situations should they arise.

Users will gain an understanding of how such a Martial Art can improve the overall quality of one’s life while keeping them safe in the unfortunate event that much larger assailants attack them.

Presenter: Larry Lewis
Group Discussion Leaders
Ruth Ann Acosta, Email: ruth1244@gmail.com
Sherry Wells E-mail: sdwells@us.ibm.com

Date: Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Time: 6:00 PM PDT, 7:00 PM MDT, 8:00 PM CDT, 9:00 PM EDT and elsewhere in the world Wednesday 01:00 GMT.

Approximately 15 minutes prior to the event start time; go to the Accessible World Classroom.

Or, alternatively,

Select The Accessible World Classroom Room at: www.accessibleworld.org

Enter your first and last names on the sign-in screen.

If you are a first-time user of the Talking Communities online conferencing software, there is a small, safe software program that you need to download and then run. A link to the software is available on every entry screen to the Accessible World rooms.

All online interactive programs are free of charge, and open to anyone worldwide having an Internet connection, a computer, speakers, and a sound card. Those with microphones can interact audibly with the presenters and others in the virtual audience. To speak to us, hold down the control key and let up to listen. If no microphone is available, you may text chat with the attendees.

Signal Boost: US Conference on Abuse of Adults with Disabilities

(via email)

21st Annual NAPSA Conference: Healing the Culture of Abuse

WHEN: November 8-10th, 2010

WHERE: Westin Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego, CA

HOW: Go to: hNAPSA Annual Confernce Registration. NAPSA Members use code: MEM2010 for discounted rate

On November 8-10, 2010, the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA), partnering with the University of California Irvine, Center of Excellence on Elder Abuse and Neglect, will host their annual national conferences at the Westin Gaslamp Quarter Hotel, San Diego, California. Other conference partners include Dr. Nora Baladerian and the California District Attorneys Association.

The Archstone Foundation has provided funding for thirteen $1,000 scholarships for APS professionals from California, and the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice is also providing scholarships and other support to the conference (Note: Points of view expressed in this event are those of the organizers and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice).

2010 NAPSA Conference Registration Fees

Pre-Conference: $75 ($55 with NAPSA Conference Registration)

Members: $325

Non-members: $400

These rates are effective until 10/08/2010; after which the conference member fee increases to $400, the non-member fee to $475, Pre-Conferences to $100, and Post Conference to $120. Please be sure to note the refund policy on the conference registration site.

NEW! Post Conference* $95 ($75 with NAPSA Conference Registration)

*See details about National Financial Abuse Summit below

Four Pre-conference Intensives:

Monday, November 8, 2010 (8:30AM-12:00PM):

a.. “Too High a Cost: The Adverse Effects of Elder Abuse”
a.. “Cultural Jeopardy in Adult Dependency & Disability
a.. “Abuse of Deaf and/or Hard of Hearing Women”
a.. “Legal Advocacy for Persons with Developmental Disabilities”

NAPSA Conference:

Monday, November 8 (1:00pm) – Wednesday, November 10 (5:00PM):

Eight (8) breakout rooms Three (3) plenary sessions Over 45 presentations Over 70 presenters Expanded Exhibit area and Social/Networking opportunities

Keynote Presenters include:

Ollegario “Ollie” D. Cantos VII, National Disability Rights Leader; Member, President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Marie Therese Connolly, JD, National Elder Rights Advocate and Author

Bill Benson, NAPSA National Policy Advisor

The conference will provide many highly acclaimed speakers such as: Nora Baladerian Ph.D., Dean Hawley MD, Candace Heisler JD, Holly Ramsey-Klawsnik PhD, Mark Lachs MD, Scott Modell PhD, Laura Mosqeda MD, Robin Rose, Daniel Sheridan PhD, as well as many new innovative speakers.

Signal Boost: Call for Papers on Women & Girls with Disabilities and Human Rights

[via email]

In 1999, at the urging of our sister and colleague Barbara Faye Waxman Fiduccia, the Center launched a new series of reports on women and girls with disabilities – written by women leaders in the disability rights and women’s rights movements [click here to download our first three reports]. These three reports were inspired by Barbara’s co-authorship of our 1999 Research and Data in Brief report on Violence Against Disabled Women [click here to download the report [PDF]].

Sadly, we lost Barbara in 2001 and, while we will always miss her great and powerful spirit, her passion to ensure the full human rights of women and girls with disabilities continues to inspire the Center’s work.

In that spirit, we are issuing a CALL FOR PROPOSALS for a series of new BARBARA WAXMAN FIDUCCIA PAPERS ON WOMEN AND GIRLS WITH DISABILITIES – on a full range of women’s human rights crises that affect women with disabilities in every corner of the globe.

In Barbara’s words in Women and Girls With Disabilities: Defining the Issues – An Overview (1999): “Disabled women and girls are of all ages, all racial, ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds and sexual orientations. . . Disabled women and girls live at the corner of disability and womanhood – with two ‘minority’ identities, a double dose of discrimination and stereotyping and multiple barriers to achieving their life goals.”

The 2011 BARBARA WAXMAN FIDUCCIA PAPERS will present the self-defined perspectives of women with disabilities – both in the USA and globally – on such topics as: access to health care, reproductive rights and health, violence against women and girls, women and AIDS, educational equity, family life and parenting, employment and economic development, balancing work and family, participation in Government at every level – from local to national to international. We also urge you to propose Papers on issues that we have not mentioned here. To submit a proposal or ask a question about our plans for the 2011 Papers, send an email to the Center’s president at lwolfe@centerwomenpolicy.org

Signal Boost: Work Capability Assessment Independent Review

WCA independent review – Call for Evidence launched 27th July

Dear all,

As you may know, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has asked me to undertake an independent review of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). This is an important part of the Employment and Support Allowance claim process, designed to determine which claimants are capable of undertaking work, or work-related activity. My aim is to review the current workings of the assessment, and make recommendations on the future development and efficacy of the WCA.

As part of this process, I have today (27th July 2010) launched a call for evidence to gather information from a wide variety of stakeholders on the WCA. I strongly invite you to contribute to the call for evidence by submitting any information you may have that is relevant to how the WCA is operating. This includes evaluating how the WCA assesses limited capability for work and limited capability for work-related activity. There are a number of questions throughout the document and I would very much welcome your responses to these.

The call for evidence can be found at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/.

This e-mail is being sent to a large number of people and organisations who have already been involved in this work or who have expressed an interest. Please do share this e-mail with, or tell us about, anyone you think will want to be involved in this consultation. I apologise if this means you receive this message more than once, but stakeholder views really are important to the process.

The closing date for the call for evidence is 27 August 2010 – please send your responses to wca.evidence@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
(or hard copies to: WCA Independent Review Team, Floor 6, Section B, Caxton House, Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA) by then.

Kind regards,

Prof. Malcolm Harrington CBE