By Guest on 14 December, 2010
Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg is a wife, mother, writer, editor, artist, photographer, and leader of the Vermont Chapter of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN). She blogs at Journeys with Autism, and her latest book, The Uncharted Path: My Journey with Late-Diagnosed Autism, was published in July of 2010. Her last guest post for FWD was “I [...]
Posted in guest post | Tagged autism, autistic, dominant narratives, guest post, Jewish, myths and misconceptions, religion, stereotypes, stereotyping
By s.e. smith on 3 December, 2010
I happened to be browsing through The American Journal of Psychiatry the other day1 when I noticed an article discussing the persistence of stigmatised social attitudes about mental illness. Researchers conducted a study using brief vignettes and asking respondents to discuss their reactions to them2. The study found two interesting things: The first was that [...]
Posted in mental health, social attitudes | Tagged pop culture, stereotypes, stigma
By Annaham on 23 November, 2010
miss_invisible at Take a little look… (DW): Origins I often find myself wondering when, exactly, everything started. Have I always been dealing with mental illness? Have I always been, to greater or lesser degrees, disabled? At times the wondering borders on obsession, the inability of my anxious mind to let things go making me turn [...]
Posted in recommended reading | Tagged airlines, airport security, book review, books, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic illness, mental health, mental illness, multiple sclerosis, pain medicine, personal stories, stereotypes
By Ouyang Dan on 12 November, 2010
[The scene sets with OYD, a slightly pale yet never-the-less still quite indigenous woman, sitting down to her trusty Macbook Pro, a laptop named "Lappy", who has seen better days. She sets down and opens up her "drafts" tab under FWD/Forward, where she notices thatĀ egads! she has been working on this book review for over [...]
Posted in books, intersectionality, media and pop culture, poverty, race, Uncategorized | Tagged -ist language, ableist language, books, diability, disability and poverty, poverty, race, Sherman Alexie, stereotypes, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
By Annaham on 14 October, 2010
I am one of those people who often cannot ask for help. At times, I am so afraid of seeming weak, or whiny, or overly-sensitive, or dependent on other people that I tend to either ignore my own needs until I start flailing around at the last minute in order to not get overwhelmed, or [...]
Posted in bodies, feminism, gender, social attitudes | Tagged daily life, disability is a feminist issue, effortless perfection, fibromyalgia, gender, help, medical care, perfectionism, personal, personal stories, rethinking social norms, social attitudes, stereotypes, unexpected obstacles
By Anna on 25 December, 2009
Hey, able-bodied folks. Why the heck are you not overcoming adversity and becoming an Olympic-caliber athlete? It’s so easy, right? If you just “realize most of your limitations in life are self-imposed”, you, too can do anything!
Posted in anna rants | Tagged sports, stereotypes, supercrip
By Guest on 1 December, 2009
Living in our bodies is a day-by-day, minute-by-minute experience. In our experience, and the experience of our friends who are our ages or older, aging does entail additional maintenance time and energy. More small things about our bodies need attention than they did 25 years ago. We go to doctors more often. We have more routine tests. We have excellent memories, but we lose words more often than we used to.
Posted in bodies, guest post, intersectionality | Tagged age, aging, body impolitic, disability, fact activism, fat, stereotypes, stereotyping
By Anna on 1 December, 2009
Recommended Reading for Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Posted in recommended reading | Tagged asperger syndrome, barriers to access, neuroatypical, neurotypical, self-care, self-diagnosis, social inclusion, social treatment, stereotypes
By amandaw on 20 November, 2009
So many people have complained that it is asking too much of abled people to stop using words they consider trivial: crazy, insane, lunatic, idiot, moron, dumb, blind, etc. I beg to differ. You know what is really damn easy? Erasing these words from your vocabulary. All you have to do is stop saying them. [...]
Posted in 101, activism, justice, language, social attitudes | Tagged ableism, assholes, culture, essential concepts, feminism, fuck that, i thought you were supposed to be my ally, justice, language, privilege, privilege-check, problematic attitudes, shaming, social treatment, speak up, stereotypes, things people say
By amandaw on 23 October, 2009
(Cross-posted at three rivers fog.) I wrote this yesterday in an extreme fog and do not have the spoons to rework and polish it. Apologies for the brainspill, but these days it’s the only option I have. *** For background, see Ouyang Dan’s post on the problematic aspects of the TV show House. Don’t tell [...]
Posted in blaming, i'm right here, media and pop culture, shaming, social attitudes, Uncategorized | Tagged ableism, abuse, addiction, causation, characters with disabilities, chronic illness, chronic pain, chronic pain conditions, disability, disability in fiction, disabled characters, disclosure, drugs are bad mmm'kay, erasing, fibromyalgia, House M.D., invisibility, invisible disabilities, invisible disability, life, me, medications, myths and misconceptions, pain management, passing, personal, pop culture, privilege, problematic attitudes, shaming, social treatment, stereotypes, stories, television, things people say, work
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