Vandalism? Destruction of property? Damaging imporant services? Blame the cripples.

No, really.

Originally posted at http://trouble.dreamwidth.org/531698.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID. Comments at Dreamwidth: .

If I could teach everyone in the world one thing about wheelchairs, it would be this:

Electric wheelchairs are heavier than you. If you walk in front of one, and it hits you, you are going to hurt. Do not cut off the wheelchair user.

Manual wheelchairs are not used by sacks of potatoes. Do not treat manual wheelchair users like they are sacks of potatoes.

That may look like two things. It really is one thing: Wheelchair users should be treated like they're people. It pains me deeper than you know that I not only need to type that sentence out, but that the people who most need to learn it will probably never read it.

I hope next year at this time I'm in Edinburgh.

Originally posted at http://trouble.dreamwidth.org/530471.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID. Comments at Dreamwidth: .

You can read Courtney's post about Feministing's chat.

I'm almost done with the recommended reading list I was going to send them (I will cross-post it here).

Originally posted at http://trouble.dreamwidth.org/528950.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID. Comments at Dreamwidth: .

Ask me. Go on, ask me. Ask me what happened to Don today.

Don went to the grocery store. In his wheelchair. Freshly repaired by my favourite (and yours) Harding Medical Supplies. The one he got back the day before his surgery, freshly repaired, taking so damned long because of the need to order replacement parts, which means he's used it three or four times at most since getting it back? Oh yeah. That wheelchair.

Which is currently back with Harding Medical Supplies, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, because it stopped working on his way to the grocery store today. The grocery store that's three blocks from our flat.

I have no idea on the details, I'm not home. But I do know that Harding Medical Supplies apparently doesn't actually repair wheelchairs. Isn't that awesome?

Originally posted at http://trouble.dreamwidth.org/526290.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID. Comments at Dreamwidth: .

I read a comment today (not here, somewhere on YouTube) that someone made after watching the latest episode of Glee.

if you actually watched arty (the kid in the wheelchair) just had a lead and everyone loves him. he's become a prominent character. know your info before you have a whole rant.

(It's Artie.)

I just came back from watching this episode. Artie had five lines. After one of those lines, he turned to "high five" one of the girls, who has already turned away from him to "high five" someone else. He sang half of the solo in the boys' half of the competition. (The plot is inane, so don't worry about it.) None of his lines were actually about him, or anything he does. His "dancing" (oh, his dancing) was pushing himself from one end of the stage to the other, then back again, then back a third time, and then turning himself in a circle a few times in the center of the stage. (I suspect the actor has finally gotten used to not tapping his toes in the chair.)

I have no idea what this person thinks a "prominent" character is. I would imagine a "prominent" character might have a whole episode dedicated to exploring their inner life, like Kurt did. A "prominent" character might have a plot or storyline of some sort, like Rachel, Finn, Quinn, Puck and (to a far lesser extent) Kurt do. I would imagine a "prominent" character would have a last name. [Please note: Those named characters are all white. Mercedes has slightly more plot and prominence than Artie. Tina has about the same. Tina also has a stutter.]

But I guess we should be grateful. Unlike the promotional material, we have yet to see Artie's wheelchair tipped over, and him stuck in a dumpster.

( no really )

Please note who's in the garbage can. And who is not.

If you haven't been watching the show, the only character who's been shown in the garbage can is Kurt. (It was a recurring scene for the first few episodes, but it's stopped now that Kurt's proved himself man enough for the football team.)

Also, for extra special fun, please go to this site and watch the slide show. Tell me whose picture doesn't show up.

Go on. I'll wait. Maybe Artie's picture shows up on yours.
(Note that the "final" picture of the Glee club singing also doesn't include Artie.)

There was so much fail in this week's Glee that I don't even know where else to start. So instead, I think I'll just end it with another link.

I know, it's probably unfair for me to compare professional wheelchair dancers to the actor playing Artie. Although my understanding is all the other characters did need to be able to both sing and dance at their audition, why would they have looked for any number of qualified people who could sing and dance in a wheelchair? Such things would have been impossible, after all.

So much to ask for. Actual wheelchair users are all helpless.

Originally posted at http://trouble.dreamwidth.org/523521.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID. Comments at Dreamwidth: .

Hey, remember multiple rants I've written about Feminism and Disability Fail?

Feministing Keeps Failing.

Here's a quote I read in an academic paper this week:

Some disabled feminists have suggested that since women have been the traditional carers of elderly people, disabled children and adults, that some women activists may subconsciously regard these groups as symbolic of the chains that have bound them to the home (Hume 1990).

I think it's true. What do you think?

I have again asked someone at Feministing to email me and take my concerns - and the concerns of so many others in our community - seriously. We'll see what happens this time.

Originally posted at http://trouble.dreamwidth.org/520547.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID. Comments at Dreamwidth: .

Hey, have I mentioned that Harding Medical Supplies, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is an incompetent wheelchair repair place? I bet I haven't mentioned this in at least a few days.

That's right, Harding Medical Supplies, a wheelchair repair center in Halifax, Nova Scotia, continues to not repair wheelchairs! Isn't that awesome?

The latest is that they still haven't received all the parts (but wow, do they know who I am when I call now, because apparently I must call them - they cannot be expected to call us with information). The parts we were promised would take "five to seven days" to deliver.

Harding Medical Supplies has now had Don's wheelchair for more than three weeks. That's FIFTEEN business days. They never return our calls. They never call to give us updates. They never give me information until I ask for it several times.

The latest person I have talked to SWEARS up and down and sideways that she's on the phone RIGHT NOW with the part manufacturer to find out where the parts are, because apparently no one at Harding Medical Supplies had noticed it had been significantly longer than their promised turn-around time and called the manufacturer previously.

She SWEARS she is going to call Don (while I'm in class) as soon as she is off the phone with them. SWEARS.

Because I have NEVER been promised a call back from Harding Medical Supplies that I haven't received in the past. I'm sure I offended her with my demand that someone at Harding Medical Supplies take responsibility for the complete mess this wheelchair repair has become.

Harding Medical Supplies, folks. For when you don't really need a wheelchair in a reasonable amount of time.

{Don is not going to have the chair before his surgery next week.}

To put this in complete perspective for you: Don has now been without his power chair for over a month. For a few days I was able to push him where he wanted/needed to go, but overall I cannot do this - I am not at home right now, and won't be home for several hours. He's stuck in the house, between AirCanada breaking his wheelchair and Harding Medical Supplies refusing to actually repair the wheelchair.

And now, here we are, a beautiful day, Don's mom coming on Sunday, the surgery on Wednesday, and Don has been basically trapped in the house (against his will) for a month.

Way to go, Harding Medical Supplies. You win.

Originally posted at http://trouble.dreamwidth.org/515998.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID. Comments at Dreamwidth: .

I know Canada is a post-racial utopia where we all hold hands and sing about wanting a Coke, but it seems like only yesterday when the Government was behaving incredibly poorly in regards to the health needs of First Nations people.

Unless that really was yesterday. I've been a bit busy.

[These are selected-for-outrage quotes. Read Expecting Flu Assistance, Reserves get body bags from Ottawa for all context.]

Aboriginal leaders said they were outraged and confused when dozens of body bags were delivered to remote Manitoba reserves after native communities demanded federal resources to fight a second wave of the H1N1 flu outbreak.

...

The federal government was left scrambling late Wednesday to explain the shipments, which also included hand sanitizer, masks and gloves.

Each bag contained full post-mortem kits that included a chin strap, five tie-straps and three identification tags.

...

“Is Canada giving up on the first nations?” Mr. Harper asked in an interview. “We're very offended. It looks like Canada is giving up on us. Or is this the flu preparedness that Canada talks about?”

In many First Nations cultures, to prepare for death is to invite death, he said.

...

The mild flu outbreak in the spring erupted into a full-blown crisis on several of Manitoba's remote reserves. At one point, aboriginals comprised two-thirds of Manitoba flu patients on respirators. Health Canada came under fire for hesitating to send hand sanitizer to native towns because of concerns that people would ingest the alcohol-based gel.

The comments are a crapshoot - there are mods at the G&M, though, and many comments simply say "This comment has been removed because it does not meet our commenting guidelines."

*sigh*

Originally posted at http://trouble.dreamwidth.org/514670.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID. Comments at Dreamwidth: .

I had this plan where I was only going to post happy or cheerful things for the last week before school started because I don't really need the stress right now, and then I had to start dealing again with the wheelchair repair people.

About three weeks ago, we called the repair people to find out why we were being invoices 91$. We weren't disputing the invoice - we're both well aware that we're over the $500 repair fee that is covered by the people we got the chair from - we wanted to know what the invoice was for.

We never received a call back. I kept meaning to call and follow up, but got caught up in other things.

On Friday, they came to pick up the chair, and Don was assured that it would be looked at, and someone would get back to us on Friday. Around 3:30 (so, 7 hours after the chair was picked up), Don called them and was told that they hadn't even looked at it, that it wouldn't be looked at till Monday. I have no doubt that this is because they're backed up, but one would imagine this information would have been available sooner than 3:30 p.m. on a Friday.

Don called one of the other places in the city that rents manual chairs to inquire if they have any to rent and left a message on Friday. We haven't received a call back. (I just called and left another message.)

This morning, Don called the Wheelchair Repair People to follow up on his chair, and was assured a call back. I just called them again at 2:30 p.m. The chair hasn't even been looked at yet. And, coincidentally, I got the person who was supposed to call us back three weeks ago about the invoice, who couldn't really give me a satisfactory explanation for why I didn't get a call back, ever, except she's been busy.

It turns out they're charging us for the replacement of one of the parts we've been saying since the day Don got the wheelchair wasn't attached properly, and I feel this should have been covered under warranty. Also, this is the third time we've asked for clarification on invoices we've received, because their invoices do not indicate what repair/replacement work has been done. Each time, we're promised an explanation. This is the first time I've received one, after I had to call back and coincidentally got the right person to speak to.

Now they've promised us that "someone" will call us back before 5. I hope you'll forgive me if I'm skeptical.

My response after this latest round of phone calls was to call their parent company, and ask who to talk to about making a complaint. We're a bit over a barrel here, because we don't actually own the wheelchair - it's owned by the charity that paid for it. [Nova Scotia does not cover mobility aids as part of health care costs. I make too much money for Don to qualify for the government to pay for a wheelchair, and we don't actually have enough income to pay for an electric wheelchair on our own.] So we go through their provider of service, although Don's currently writing an email to them about his continuing problems with them. [They are not the only service providers in the city.]

When I called their parent company, they were surprised that people call to make complaints [which sounds to me like "no one ever complained before", which is bullshit], and directed me towards a switchboard number in another associated company. The person we need to speak to is out of the office till Wednesday. No one offered to take a message.

They have 2 hours to call back and give us an idea on how much the wheelchair will cost to fix, and how long it will take. Don has basically been in the house, except for visiting with James, since Tuesday, August 18.

[The title of this post comes from the advertisements played by the medical group in question. I'm rather disturbed by the language, but since I'm already really irritated, it may be more innocent-sounding to others.]

Originally posted at http://trouble.dreamwidth.org/509800.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID. Comments at Dreamwidth: .

Oh 3 a.m. It's been a mere 24 hours since you last darkened my experiences. *sigh* Insomnia is more fun when it involves baking cookies.

The wheelchair repair people showed up today, took the wheelchair away, and assured us that we'd hear by by this afternoon about how long it would take to fix, and what it would cost.

At 3:30 Don called them to find out what was up, and was told "Oh, no, we're not even going to look at it before Monday."
( this is random life-blethering, mostly very down )
Okay, enough of that. Tomorrow = free trial yoga, perhaps Mandatory Togetherness Time with Katie & Emmy, and Don has promised I can buy a new book. (He has also, cleverly, told me which book I can buy from my "I MUST HAVE THIS BOOK OR I WILL DIE RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW" list, because otherwise book buying will take three days and a pony.)

Here, have a picture of a cow (and me!):


Originally posted at http://trouble.dreamwidth.org/509593.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID. Comments at Dreamwidth: .

Shockingly, I have written an angry email!

to client@autobus.qc.ca
subject Adaptable Transportation

Hello,

I've spent two days attempting to arrange adaptable transportation with your company because your website (http://www.autobus.qc.ca/anglais/pops-up_an/mtl_dorval_an.html) indicates that it is available upon reservation. Imagine my surprise when someone finally told me that you have no wheelchair accessible buses. I had to *prove* that this information was on your website.

The information on your website looks like this:

[I put a screen grab of their website here]

I was told to arrange a taxi.

We had not budgeted for a taxi. We budgeted for your airport shuttle because your website indicates that you have adapted transportation, with no indication this would cost additional funds.

I'm very angry and disappointed that this has happened so shortly before our trip to Montreal next week.

It is also not acceptable to offer to "carry" someone and their wheelchair into a bus. It's invasive and unsafe, and for people with chronic pain conditions, painful. This is putting aside the fact that someone just offered to "carry" a 6'10" man and his 225 lb wheelchair.

If your company does not offer adapted transportation, then it should not indicate that you do on your website. If your company DOES offer adapted transportation, your English language dispatch needs to be informed of this immediately. This should not have been a two-day, three-phone call process just to be told your company could not provide the service advertised on your website.

Anna Pearce

I also wrote an email to the Accessibility Quebec folks who told me their service was accessible.

Then I wrote a post for The Halifax Media Co-op, because they've been on me for months to start writing about accessibility issues, and I have no time to do Hard-Hitting-Media about the subject.

Just... arg, people. ARG. WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO BE SO DAMNED DIFFICULT?

Originally posted at http://trouble.dreamwidth.org/502562.html. You can comment here or there using OpenID.

I was in the middle of writing a nice little post about what Don & I had been up to this weekend (Shakespeare! Jazz! Awesome company!) when I broke away for a moment to call Nova Scotia Tourism to ask about wheelchair accessible tours and now I hate everyone (except you).

First, I kept getting told that there are areas of Halifax that are wheelchair accessible. I didn't ask that, so it was very frustrating to be told this again.

Second, I was told that "anyone" can go on any of the tours. I've been on walking tours in Halifax. Most of them start at the foot of the stairs at the Citadel. Stairs are not wheelchair accessible. Why I have to point this out to someone, I do not know.

Third, I was directed towards some of the historical site tours (like at Pier 21 and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic) and told they were accessible. They also listed Keith's Brewery. That is not an accessible site.

Fourth, they suggested a bus tour, specifically the Harbour Hopper. We looked at the Harbour Hopper on Thursday. Not only is it very expensive, it is completely inaccessible. "I know they'll help people into their seats" is not an acceptable answer for accessibility issues. We all know Don can walk up a flight of stairs, as he has a cane. But the person on the phone didn't.

And fifth, despite saying repeatedly we were looking for an historic walking tour of Halifax, they finally gave me a number for a "Haunted Halifax Hike". That number has since been disconnected.

I am really regretting that I didn't go with my first impulse this summer and start a fully accessible historic walking tour of Halifax. (I was going to find a 'terp and everything.) I had no idea it would be completely impossible to find one.

For crying out loud, Halifax has an aging population. 22% of the people in Nova Scotia have a disability. Tourists often come here via cruise ship, and cruise ships have a lot of older people on board. Why do people with disabilities not exist for the Tourist Information Center?

I don't think my sharply worded complaint is going to be taken seriously.

Stupid Halifax.

I demand the LGTB groups I belong to work on their issues of inclusiveness, that they are not just focused on the concerns of white gay cisgendered men, that they define "everyone" to include having accessible meetings, that they make efforts to recruit queer people of colour, and that they stop being so cis-centric.

Why? Because GLTB equality is not achieved when it doesn't include people with disabilities who are queer, people of colour/non-white people who are queer, trans men and women, queer people who aren't doing the college-education thing,queer people who fall into multiple permations of these categories, queer people who are stereotypes and queer people who are not, and basically everyone who considers themselves queer in ways I have thoughtless not included here.

Why do people assume that the standard I hold feminism to - that it includes me and mine - is not the standard I hold my GLTB activism, my disability-focused activism, and my political party to?

That argument holds no weight in these parts. Quite frankly, the fact that you make it says a lot about you.

USA, Canada and the EU attempt to kill treaty to protect blind people's access to written material

This will also affect Deaf people, and people with other reading-related difficulties.

At issue is a treaty to protect the rights of blind people and people with other disabilities that affect reading (people with dyslexia, people who are paralyzed or lack arms or hands for turning pages), introduced by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay. This should be a slam dunk: who wouldn't want a harmonized system of copyright exceptions that ensure that it's possible for disabled people to get access to the written word?

The USA, that's who. The Obama administration's negotiators have joined with a rogue's gallery of rich country trade representatives to oppose protection for blind people. Other nations and regions opposing the rights of blind people include Canada and the EU.

Also opposing rights for disabled people: Australia, New Zealand, the Vatican and Norway.

[More details at BoingBoing

The proposal for a treaty is supported by a large number of civil society NGOs, the World Blind Union, the National Federation of the Blind in the US, the International DAISY Consortium, Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D), Bookshare.Org, and groups representing persons with reading disabilities all around the world.

The main aim of the treaty is to allow the cross-border import and export of digital copies of books and other copyrighted works in formats that are accessible to persons who are blind, visually impaired, dyslexic or have other reading disabilities, using special devices that present text as refreshable braille, computer generated text to speech, or large type. These works, which are expensive to make, are typically created under national exceptions to copyright law that are specifically written to benefit persons with disabilities.

The number of accessible works is very small everywhere, relative to what "sighted" persons can read. However, in developing countries, the collections are super small, and even in the USA, access to works in languages other than English is practically non-existent.

Under the current international legal regime, there is almost no sharing of these works across borders. The treaty would change that, vastly expanding the availability of works to all persons who are blind or have other reading disabilities.

Read more at the Huffington Post

Spread the world. Contact your elected representatives, cross post it, twitter it, put it on Facebook. They don't want us to do this. Let's make it impossible for them to ignore the needs and demands of people with disabilities, even if your country supports this treat.

TwitterFeed: #sccr18

[via peaseblossom

Let's play a fun game, shall we?

Thunder Bay mom wants answers after teacher's aide chops off son's hair

(Thunder Bay is in Canada, for international folks.)

Before reading the article, do some guessing.

What race do you think the boy is?

What ability-status do you think he has?

How old do you think he is?

Do you think the teacher's aide is being disciplined in any way?

Are any charges being laid?

( Go on, make your guesses before reading the rest. )

I just got contacted by the ad creator and it's not a Dove ad, it's a school project to show "disability in a positive light in advertising".

ginny_t brought this ad to my attention.

The whole ad, which is awful, is behind the cut, but let me sum it up for you: There is nothing more tragic than a conventionally-attractive young woman having lower self-esteem than the chick in the wheelchair.
( Ad behind the cut )

[If you think that's not the message, it's certainly the one people are getting from it. "A video to show that it takes, something as common as low self -esteem to disable you. Don't suffer at the hands of this 'illness'. You are beautiful, don't ever think otherwise." - from the YouTube page where I got the vid.]

There is a whole damned culture around presenting people with disabilities as being very special messages for everyone else - from Shannon Lake in For Better or For Worst, April's classmate who only shows up to tell April how awesome she (April) is to the upcoming film The Soloist that shows a black man with schizophrenia teaching a white "neurotypical" man the true meaning of life, and all sorts of shows and movies that I'm sure you can name once you start looking for them. This is, of course, supposedly the "good" view of PWD - look, they're so inspiring, the way they do things like normal people! Jess in this ad is able to go out! And have fun! Isn't that amazing?

[Contrast this ad with the Pepsi Superbowl Ad from 2008, with two Deaf men looking for their friend's place.]

amandaw points out:

The subcontext here is incredible. Jess uses a wheelchair. She’s happy and perky and having fun. Katie is visibly healthy. She has low self-esteem and her self-hatred keeps her from even being able to greet Jess when she comes to the door. Instead, she slouches to the ground in despair.

There is a reason they put Jess in a wheelchair. In doing this, Dove sets up a contrast: the physically disabled girl who feels good enough about herself to go about her life; the able-bodied girl who hates herself so much she can’t even go out with the people least likely to judge her at all.

The only way this contrast is meaningful is if it rests on the assumption that the physically disabled girl has reason to think less of herself.

Dove, here, is deliberately driving home the message: It’s such a shame that the “normal” girl thinks less of herself than does the girl in a wheelchair!

Annaham also posts about it:

We're not your fucking After-School Special.

Damn right.

[One could possibly argue that Katie is suffering from some form of mental illness or phobia of going outside. I do not think that's even remotely related to what Dove is trying to do in this ad.]

There's a six minute long video by the Illinois Family Institution, Dare to Stand: Rethinking the Day of Silence, which again goes back to basic scaremongering about the evil homosexual agenda of awfulness.

Transcript, although if you have the time to watch it I think you should, because the images they use are pure scaremongering on so many levels:

Narrator:
April, Anytown, USA. The spring wind carries with it the rumble of the school bus and the chatter of small voices. Public school children have swapped parkas for windbreakers, shedding winter garb for skateboards and slingbags. A new day approaches, a different day in America. On the public school calendar, Earth Day and Spring Break have replaced Patriot's Day and Easter Vacation, a day honouring the bravery of our forefathers and the time marking the resurrection of Jesus Christ supplanted by Political Correctness and radical environmental ideals. And now: the Day of Silence.

This is not the future. Right now, all over the world people of faith are being told to sit in the back of the bus. From kindergarten to the twelve grade schools across America are being encouraged, in some cases coerced, to reserve a day in April to bring attention to anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender name-calling, bullying and harassment. Students and faculty are asked to remain silent to honour the brave struggle of those in their quest for equal rights, to show empathy for that struggle, and to portray the bigoted oppression of a racist America.

For years, we've heard small groups with loud voices tell us to keep our church and state out of their bedroom, all the while and before one could speak their bedroom is parading down the street, broadcast into our living room and endorsed and promoted into our children's classroom. The homosexual agenda has been carefully crafted and packaged to change the way American's thinks about homosexuality. First, claim to be a victim. Then, cry for tolerance when the goal is acceptance, legitimacy, and the stifling of dissent. A gay marketing firm suggests desensitisation consists of inundating the public in a continuous flood of gay-related advertising, presented in the least offensive fashion possible. Every time a gay character is portrayed on film or television, he or she must be altogether the best dresser, the person who offers the best advice, never the drunk or the scoundrel, but ultimately the one who delivers the punchline. Often times, at the expense of the characture-straight basket case.

Hiding beneath this glossy veneer is the truth that in nearly every study it is the homosexual who is more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs, to accept abusive relationships, to acquire and spread sexually transmitted disease, to suffer in depression and doubt, even to view suicide as a solution.

A young man's exposure to the sex education at the public school is well surmised by Joe Dallas: Having begun life with a good shot at a marriage and family, he may end it in his 20s on a respirator, emaciated and terrified, but with an education on sexuality from grades one to twelve that he can take to the grave. As Paul Rondo explains, Jamming is psychological terrorism, meant to silence expression of and even support for dissenting opinion, re-framing the argument so that there is only two positions: that of the reasonable tolerant person, and that of the stilted bigot. A closet is by no means a suitable place to live but to abandon it only to force people of faith into it is not tolerance.

In an age where good is called evil and evil good, concerned parents much inoculate their children from the cultural-engineering of the secular humanist. A free man need not be ashamed of virtue. Honour needs no apology. Tradition isn't right because it is long-standing, but some traditions are long-standing because they are right. Christians need to stand. Stand up for the truth, stand up for our faith, and families, and yes, stand up for that poor confused soul who is being encouraged to engage in behaviour destructive to mind, body and soul. To those who struggle with the issue of sexual identity, the sin of homosexuality, or any other sexual temptation, do not give in to sinful desires, even if the world stands and applauds them. Resist them and pray for strength and enablement. Know that G-d loves you; Christ died for you. The truth can, and will, set you free. G-d has not abandoned you to struggle alone, and neither will we. Consult with your pastor for confidential support or contact one of the following ministries that specialise in this problem.

Will you dare to stand?

Then, they quote Paul. Of course they quote Paul. Because you can't find quotes in the Bible attributed to Jesus that say "homosexuality is a sin". (My issues with Paul, let me show you them.)

If you have the time/ability to watch this vid, I really recommend you do. The images used are amazing - children with duct-tape on their mouths, focusing on the American flag, an all-white classroom when referring to "racist America", the only sound-effect being the whack as a teacher hits the Bible a student is reading before throwing it in the garbage, and then four children advancing on the teacher before ripping off their duct-tape and grabbing the Bible she just threw out.

Some of this, of course, is true: gay people are often depressed and abuse alcohol and drugs. There is more "acceptance" of abusive relationships. Sexually transmitted diseases are a serious problem. But these facts really obscure the truth: that depression and drug abuse is caused or exacerbated by intolerance, hate, and bigotry, and that queer youth are disproportionately on the street, having been kicked out by their families. Support and assistance for abusive relationships assume straight couples only, and there is little (if any) discussion about abuse and rape within queer relationships. Like other health issues, STD-screening and safe-sex practices are not aimed at queer youth or adults.

As for the "gay marketing firm", this may or may not be something they've said, but it's sure as heck not what's going on in the media today. I don't watch a lot of t.v., but other than on cable-networks, are there any out gay people in prime time? Is there a mainstream American equivalent of Jack & Ianto? Has there been any out lesbian couples since Tara & Willow did the dead/evil lesbian cliché? [I think there's a lesbian couple on BSG, but I think that also went the route of dead/evil lesbians.] Are we actually seeing happy, healthy gay people in our media all the time and I'm just not hearing about it? (Fandom, you've obviously let me down.)

I can't really talk about what's going on in schools in America right now, being that I'm not in school, don't have any children in school, and don't live in America. But I do know that in the last month two eleven year old boys have committed suicide due to homophobic and heterosexist bullying - Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover hanged himself as did Jaheem Herrera. Last year, Lawrence King was murdered by a classmate for flirting with him. King was 15, and his murderer was 14.

Our children are being murdered while groups like this "Family Institution" say they're under attack, that their views are being "silenced", that they're standing up for what's right.

Let's define our terms, shall we?

I have only briefly referred here to my growing irritation with the greater feminist (and by extension, progressive) blogosphere's way of talking about people with disabilities. I've written about it a few other places, in comments here and there, instead.

So, let me be clear: I am not happy. Truth is, the times people with disabilities come up are mostly confined to discussions of reproductive rights, or (occasionally) when someone says something very stupid and thoughtless, like President Obama's recent "it was like Special Olympics, or something" comment.

I do not mean to call Shakes out specifically - it's a blog where I feel safe saying "Please don't use 'lame' to describe something as bad or stupid. Don is lame. So-and-so is a jerk" and know that the Blog Mistress will back me on it 100%. Being that I don't always feel safe asking my friends to not use such ablist language (which is why the few people who do around me may be blinking and going "huh?" right now), it means a lot that a virtual stranger has made that sort of space.

That aside, I can't remember the last time Shakes talked about disability. A quick search of "disability" there shows me this in September, about how people framed Sarah Palin's child, Trig, as a tragedy (and Sweet Machine's very passionate rejection of the ablism around the whole thing), this one in June, about Fibromyalgia</a> and myths about disability, and a post last July about dolls with disabilities and people having meltdowns about them. (There are other posts, but those are the ones that come up for 2008. They are all Guest Posts.)

Great. People with disabilities exist when there's a problem - and very specific problems at that. No wonder so many people think Don's life is a tragedy and that I should be congratulated on my "strength" for "choosing" to live with him. And why so many people don't stand up for accessibility and inclusiveness in their own lives. They don't have any reason to - it's all someone else's problem.

Like when I went to a meeting of the Halifax Media Co-Op last month. My questions were, to my mind, simple: Is the site accessible to text readers? (They don't know.) Will anyone be detailed to make sure all of the audio and video submissions have transcripts so that people who are Deaf can read them? (They don't have any plans for that and hadn't even considered it - but I can take that task on if I want. Unpaid, of course.) Will anyone be describing photos so people who are blind can know what are in them? (They provide a tag on every photo indicating what it is. No, they hadn't considered describing the photos. Why would they do that?)

These things aren't easy - you'll note I don't do them. But it's a news site that wants people to submit content, and claims to be progressive. Why had the issue of accessibility never even been considered? Heck, until I added one, there wasn't even a working group on disability. There are currently two members.

And this happens again, and again, and again. Websites of politicians that aren't accessible. Progressive sites that never mention disability. Campaign events that don't even allow people with disabilities an opportunity to speak, and campaign officers demanding Don look disabled enough to satisfy them before they'll excuse him for not standing*. These are the people who are supposedly our allies.

I am not happy, I'm angry.

I recently left this comment on Shakes:

I think it's lovely that President Obama has a plan for people with disabilities. I don't think this makes it okay that people couldn't attend his rallies because they were inaccessible.

Mellisa quite often talks about being "all in". To me, that means acknowledging that what President Obama and his surrogates during the campaign (and now) do is as relevant as what they say. It means that we do, as progressives, acknowledge these things and try and do better on them. It means we don't pretend he's okay on these issues, because he isn't, and those of us who don't have a disability acknowledge that we need to spend time and energy on disability & accessibility issues as well. It means we're allies.

Truth be told, I'm tired. I'm really bloody exhausted from the way various folks will squirm away from talking about PWD as though they actually exist and have a right to existence in the public sphere. People with disabilities exist even when politicians are not sticking their foot in their mouth and even when the issue is not about reproductive rights. When progressive people choose to only talk about PWD in certain, often tragic or horrifying or irritating, contexts, it erases so much of their lives - of our lives, since I live with a man who has a disability and we exist and laugh and shop and sneeze and argue and fight for his right to exist in public spaces and participate in public displays of democracy. Our lives are not tragedies, and it's not good that we're only talked about when there is something wrong.

I demand better. And frankly, you should too. This is what being "all in" is about.

So. I am angry.

I think you should be too.

What you do next is up to you.


* It just occurred to me that I never received a good answer from the NDP on either of those issues. Being that every time I ever tried to talk about this issue with the provincial NDP, I got shut down and even yelled at, colour me fucking surprised. It hurts because I expected better.

Hi.

I'm taking myself offline for a bit again because I've discovered that instead of doing thesis-writing and self-care and house-cleaning and other things, I'm surfing the web and trying to think of things to say here instead of in Thesis. And I need to present a chapter to my class next week.

Just mentioning so no one worries or anything. (Which is always nice, I have to admit. *smile*)

[Wow, I really want to go on a huge long explanation of stuff. ANNA: THESIS REWRITE DUE IN 10 HOURS.]

[Although if anyone has time/energy to discuss strategies for presenting, that would be nice. Email, maybe? anna@annaoverseas.com For newcomers, my thesis is in History and it's about dead deaf people the way the Halifax Institution for the Deaf and Dumb is a microcosm for examining changes in Deaf education in the 1800s as influenced by the clash between protestant beliefs about education and "enlightenment" beliefs about education and I get *very very* excited about it. Also, there is arson and attempted murder. You can read more about it through in yr archives writing yr history and deaf history snippets. Or you can email me. I assure you, every conversation can be about my thesis. Because my thesis is awesome. Or it will be after this edit.]

[I'm still not up to engaging with people in any meaningful way, I'm sorry. It's rather bad form to post things and not be able to really talk to people about them, but some of this stuff is timely. And now, back to being stressed beyond ability to cope.]

First, a reminder that the Wonderful and New Exciting Budget we've been blessed with thinks it's okay to pay women less than men for the same job. Because Canada is post-feminist Utopia, as we all know. Via The Toronto Star:

In this case, the Conservative attack on pay equity – the idea that men and women should be paid equally for work of equal value – provides the most telling example. Bill C-10 would end the right of federal civil servants to take pay equity complaints to the federal human rights commission. Instead, such issues would have to be dealt with as part of the normal bargaining process between union and management.

And in determining whether wage rates for men and women were fair, any arbitrator would have to take "market forces" into account.

The problem with this is twofold. First, as a federal task force wrote five years ago, collective bargaining involves tradeoffs. But a woman's constitutionally protected right to be paid fairly is hardly something that should be traded away for an extra coffee break.

Equally important is the reference to market forces. Toronto lawyer Mary Cornish points out that pay equity was designed specifically to rectify a failure in the market that permitted systemic wage discrimination against women. To turn around and subordinate equity to this same market is to negate the entire exercise.

( No wait, there's more. )