Recommended Reading for January 26th

Warning: Offsite links are not safe spaces. Articles and comments in the links may contain ableist, sexist, and other -ist language of varying intensity. Opinions expressed in the articles may not reflect the opinions held by the compiler of the post. I attempt to provide extra warnings for certain material present in articles, but your triggers/issues may vary.

Failblog: Drop Off Spot Fail

View from the top of a short path leading to precipitous downward steps. A sign at the top of the steps reads Handicap Drop Off. Captioned FAIL.

jesse_the_k in access_fandom: Making Space for Wheelchairs and Scooters

These guidelines come out of my experience working on WisCon, a 1000-person annual convention in a recently remodeled hotel.

There are many elements to making your event wheelchair-accessible. While U.S. law requires minimal wheelchair access, never rely on a venue’s general assertion of “oh yes, we’re accessible.” Those little wheelchair stickers? Anyone can buy them and post them at will, even at the bottom of a flight of steps.

Anthony A. Jack at Social Science Lite: The Insolence of Understanding: Part II

I ask again, what exactly is being said when we use other people’s situation as teaching moments for privileged individuals. The directors had Artie seem enthusiastic about the fact that his friends will be joining him in being wheelchair bound. I am not sure exactly what his response is supposed to mean. As I argued in part I, “we must realize that we do not become who we pretend to be but also that who we pretend to be are real. It is the mismatch between the show of solidarity and the reality of the life of those individuals that I find most troubling. The insolence of understanding.”

The Guardian: Mother cleared of bedridden daughter’s attempted murder

A mother who helped her daughter end her own life by handing her morphine and administering other drugs has been cleared of attempted murder.

BBC: New transport law to protect disabled passengers in NI

A new law making it illegal for transport operators to discriminate against disabled customers comes into force in Northern Ireland on Monday.

The “Disability Transport Regulations” cover trains, buses, coaches, taxis, vehicle rental and breakdown services. It is now unlawful to treat a disabled person less favourably than able-bodied customers by offering a lower standard of service, for example.

Seattle News: Take an Ax to It

But the Association of Washington Business is backing a bill, with support from both parties, that would tighten constraints on who qualifies for workers’ comp and give businesses the option to settle out of expensive ongoing claims with lump-sum payments.

Herring-Puz says these bills are “blatant attempts to cut benefits, and that’s all they are.”

The Record.com: Cedar Hill bylaw violates rights of poor and disabled, municipal board says

The bylaw in question banned new social housing and social services and some forms of rental housing from a 10-block area called Cedar Hill, which is adjacent to the downtown.[…] The 2005 [City of Kitchener] bylaw banned lodging houses, social service establishments that provide crisis care or onsite counselling, residential care facilities, small houses, or single detached houses with more than two bedrooms. Owners have to live on the premises of new rental housing. […]

The [Ontario Municipal Board] said the city failed to consider the need to improve accessibility to housing and services for people with disabilities. The city bylaw also failed to take into account the importance of housing for people with low incomes, physical or mental challenges or other health issues.

3 thoughts on “Recommended Reading for January 26th

  1. And it’s usually misunderstanding which is considered insolent.

    And the picture in the first link is one massive FAIL. Especially for those of us who may lack depth perception and also are unsteady.

    It creates nightmare fuel.

    Hope those who go to WisCon this year have a great time.

  2. How fucking long will it take before killing us is actually murder? With, you know, sympathy for the victims and not the perpetrators? I understand that Ms. Gilderdale was suicidal–I was too this time last month–but the treatment for that isn’t death, it’s therapy. And the appallingly bad Guardian article barely hints at what was likely actually at root, buried at the end: social isolation. We all get acclimated to the physical stuff. You know, mostly. There are better days and worse days.

    But being alone except for a person who very likely feels you’re better dead? It wasn’t healthy when my mother hinted at it and I’m not alone.
    .-= kaninchenzero´s last blog ..I Wish I Could Like My Game Better Than I Do =-.

  3. I wonder if this jury was influenced by the famous Sebire case in France a few years ago. The media plays a huge role in public perception of assisted suicide. Not to mention people’s own ableist fears about what would make life “worth” living.

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