Throwback Thursday

One year ago in Disability Thinking: “Two Ways To Improve Disability Journalism”

These suggestions hold up pretty well, especially the second one. Journalists of all kinds absolutely need to stop doing stories about disability issues and disabled people without in some way quoting or fairly describing the views of disabled people. And the key is realizing that talking to parents and professionals doesn't count. Their voices and perspectives are important, but they are not the same as the voices and perspectives of disabled people.

Two years ago in Disability Thinking: “3 Kinds Of Ableism”

It is probably time for me to revisit what Ableism means. I've been thinking lately that one of the problems with "ableism" and "ableist" as words is that like "racism" and "racists, they have become insults instead of descriptions. In the case of ableism, I think this is partly because when people think of "ableism" they picture a caricature that looks and sounds like a middle school bully ... a horrid, scowling creep who shouts insults at the boy in a wheelchair during lunch and laughs at their girl who has trouble speaking easily in class. Ableism is a lot more varied and complex than that. Otherwise kind, decent people do ableist things all the time. They overlook ableism every day. And they have ideas about disability that are basically ableist, but they don't recognize them as such. More about this soon, I think.