Weekly Reading List
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Two shelves of multicolored books
Well, semi-weekly, but who's counting?
America needs to decide: is health care something we owe our citizens?
Abbie Gluck, Vox.com - March 6, 2017
This first article isn't specifically about disability, but it discusses the deep background of ideas about health care, which is about the most immediately relevant policy issue for disabled Americans today. I think it's important to discuss the details of health care proposals, but it's also important for us once in awhile to ask what peoples' views are on the fundamentals, especially people who have set themselves up as opponents of more progressive programs like the Affordable Care Act. When all is said and done, do you think everyone should be insured, or is health insurance a reward for some formula of hard work and, I dunno, virtue?
Inspiration and objectification of people with disability - a resource for teachers and parents
Carly Findlay - February 5, 2017
Carly has done a great service explaining "Inspiration Porn" in a more accessible way for people who tend to resist the whole notion. In addition to being put off by the term, I think some people simply aren't familiar with the practice of deep cultural criticism, in which you dig underneath surface, apparent meanings to find the sometimes contradictory meanings below. When your disabled, you tend to get it instinctively ... it just feels wrong. But if you're not, it probably requires deliberate intellectual work. That's a big ask for most people, but Carly's work here should help a lot.
More Than A Villain: Ivar The Boneless And Disability
Alice Wong, Disability Visibility Project - February 28, 2017
Speaking of deep cultural criticism, here's an intellectually rigorous but also fun example of unpacking a disabled TV character. It makes me think about someday going back to my DisabilityTV Podcast.
Okay, it's not "reading," but here are a couple more examples of what things seem to mean vs. what they actually mean ... seemingly harmless questions and comments people make to disabled people that aren't so harmless once you think about them for a moment, especially from the vantage point of actual disabled people. I have to admit, the British sense of humor helps a lot!