Another fast & furious recommended reading today, folks! Yay for busy schedules all around, right? I am glad I try to keep up with the news, though, because I learned that legislation passed in the US that will enforce captioning and descriptive audio! I don’t actually have a t.v., but the last time I stayed in a hotel I was very excited to learn that descriptive audio is used regularly on at least some Canadian stations. I’d love to see it, and proper captioning, available everywhere.

But, enough random commentary from me. Links for everyone!

I Am PWD: New Study Reveals Lack of Characters with Disabilities on Television

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month and a new report released today on minority representation on broadcast television shows that scripted characters with disabilities will represent only one percent of all scripted series regular characters — six characters out of 587 — on the five broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox, and NBC. Not only is this invisibility in the media misrepresentative of people with disabilities, it also means few opportunities for actors with disabilities to be cast.

yasonablack in ontd_feminism: These Will Be The Only Things I’ve Learned From “Higher Education”

I had put so much work into college. I had fought through anxiety and panic attacks and mind-numbing boredom with classes. I always handed in my essays on time (except for that one), I took tests on time and finished them early, and I showed up for the majority of classes. I even participated in class on low anxiety days. I always made sure that college and education came before anything else, before a social life, before internet, before anything else. So I assumed that all I had to do to get back on an even playing field at school was meet with the school’s disability office and all would be good. Sure, I was disabled, but I could find alternate ways of getting around things. I had to. Everyone kept telling me how much harder it would be to get a job, so graduating would be even more important than ever. No one told me how much harder school would be.

One of the first things I’ve ever learned at college is the able-bodied rules of dealing with disabled classmates/students.

Lisa at Where’s the Benefit: The Human Cost of Benefit Cuts

Any loss of life is tragic. I hope that at least his death can serve as a wake up call to those attacking us that their actions do have very real consequences. Ultimately I would like to see Paul’s death prevent any more disabled people being put in the economic position where they feel that death is their only option.

Quotidian Dissent: Sitting In Wheelchairs, Standing Up For Their Rights [This is an internet news source about the ADAPT protest, so the language is a lot of “wheelchair bound” and “how brave!”]

The central focus this year is nursing homes. According to the group, programs like Medicaid favor nursing homes, which they say provide a lower quality of life, as a means of caring for those who need assistance. “I’m protesting to get people out of nursing homes all over the country. I’m here for them, because they cannot come down here themselves, and I can,” says Wallach.

Having lived in a Rochester nursing home until recently, Wallach is adamant that nursing home residents “have no rights. They eat what they’re served. They get a shower once a week! That’s it. There is nothing for them to do in a nursing home.”

In The News:

US: 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Legislation Passes. “The legislation requires captioned television programs to be captioned also when delivered over the Internet and requires video description on television for people with vision loss.”

Canada: Bus stop call system hits bumps. “A few glitches still need to be worked out in the new automated next-stop call system being installed on OC Transpo buses this week, according to riders.”