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.

Via Delicious:

RMJ at Bitch Magazine Blog: TelevIsm: Ableism, Appropriation, and United States of Tara

There are a lot of things that USOT does with its conceptual portrayal of disability that I like as a woman with disabilities. The producers did a lot of research—they consulted and worked with a DID specialist. In my [subjective] reading, main character Tara’s disability is not framed as a tragedy or particularly pitiable. It’s something that she lives with, and in my reading of the first season it’s explicitly used as a tool to cope with the repercussions of trauma. It’s something that she and her family work with and through on a day-to-day basis. She rejects medication that would “cure” her, reflecting the complexity of making decisions about medical care and pills. She experiences discrimination, and often argues against it.

But the show’s depiction of disability is inherently problematic because while it’s somewhat relatable, it’s not normalized. The point of the show is “look at this woman with multiple extra-wacky personae! Isn’t that hilarious and crazy and weird?” Furthermore, Tara’s form of DID is representative of only about 5% of all DID cases—instead of normalizing DID, the producers have chosen the most sensational form of the disorder.

RMJ at Deeply Problematic: Disability is Relevant to Feminism Part Infinity: Study Shows that Long-Lived Women have higher rates of disability:

Disability is naturally ocurring, and not something to be eliminated. But when women experience disability at disproportionate rates, it is indicative not of a wide variety of different human experiences and bodies. It’s indicative of sexist demands placed on women’s bodies throughout our lifetime.

Blogs:

terajk has done up another thorough transcript at Transcripts for Everyone: Transcript of interview with Neli Latson’s mother

This is a transcript of Nicole Flamer’s (of “You Aut to Know!” on Blogtalk Radio) interview with Lisa Alexander, whose autistic son Neli Latson was arrested after being harassed by the police.

Maria at the Hathor Legacy: WISCON 34: Activism: When to Speak Up, When to Let it Go

BCH pointed out that it’s sometimes easier to engage when you’re not seen as personally invested, and also said it’s good to know exactly what your rights are. The BUST card from the ACLU is useful for this. CTJ said she needed to ask herself the following: “Do I feel safe? Do I have backup? Will they listen? Is there someone nearby for whom I want to set a good example? I’ll only try to teach a pig to sing if there’s someone nearby who might find that song useful.”

Nebby at Hopeful Nebula: On Erasure in the Eureka Season 4 Premier SPOILERS!

So, just watched Eureka 4.01 “Founders Day.” Loved it, right up until the last few minutes.

Jedifreac at Racebending: Tinkerbell’s Amazing Ethnic Friends

So if when animated characters are made flesh, they become real, then what does it mean when an animated character with indigenous ethnicity and an anorak–one of the very few animated female heroines to ever be depicted with dark skin–is transferred into the real world, but looks and is portrayed by someone who is white?

At Racebending.com we hear a lot about what this might mean from an adult perspective, ranging from “racism” to “cultural appropriation” to “nothing to get your panties in a twist over.”

But I want to know what it means to a kid. Because children notice skin color. And they quickly notice, from observing how adults treat one another, that skin color clearly matters.

Alias-sqbr: A question for people who use image descriptions (Comments are of interest)

I always try and add alt tags, descriptions, and (when relevant) transcripts to my images. But I thought it was worth checking to see if anyone who uses these things (because of visual impairments, text-only browsing, speaking English as a second language etc) has any preferences for me doing them differently (and thus I ask here, where I post my art, rather than at my Serious Business journal). If I’m going to do them I might as well make them as useful as possible.

I guess my main questions are…

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