Weekly Wrap-Up
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A busy week for me, but not for the blog!
Monday, June 8, 2015
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Wednesday, June 11, 2015
How Many?
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- How many disabled people despise sentimental “Inspiration Porn?" How many think inspiring stories about people overcoming disabilities are pretty cool and encouraging?
- How many disabled people refer to themselves as “disabled,” how many use Person First language, ("person with a disability"), and how many prefer terms like, “physically challenged,” “differently-abled,” or “special needs?"
- How many disabled people actively hope their disability will be cured someday? How many aren't interested or would turn down a cure?
- How many disabled people consciously or unconsciously try to hide some aspect of their disability from public view or knowledge?
- How many disabled people view themselves positively as disabled people, and how many mainly think in terms of making the best of a bad situation?
Believe it or not, I think about questions like this while waiting to fall asleep. You could say the questions "keep me up at night."
The question is, are there credible answers to these questions? If not, how could we find them?
A Short Break
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Blogging will be paused for the next few days. I have grant writing work to do. One of these days, I should blog about writing grants for disability-related programs and organizations.
If you want to do stuff here, I recommend:
Listening to the Disability.TV podcast on Red Band Society with Amputee OT, creator of the Lego Leg video.
Browsing the "favorite disability websites" contributed on last weekend's Disability Blogger Linkup.
Taking the Visitor Survey.
Supporting my blogging and podcasting by making a Patreon contribution, shopping at Amazon, or signing up for a free trial of Audible.com ... links to both found halfway down the right side of the blog.
I'll probably be back with new blogging later in the week.
Weekly Reading List
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A collection of disability-related articles and blog posts I read last week, but didn’t have a chance to link to or discuss. It’s an opportunity to catch up with some of the good stuff that’s out there, but doesn’t fit neatly into the week's “big stories.”
I usually post this list on Sundays. Sorry it’s late!
Joanna Rothkopf, Salon.com - June 3, 2015
I am completely comfortable saying that I oppose the legalization of euthanasia or assisted suicide. It is bad, dangerous policy, with great potential for abuse … where abuse means involuntary death of human beings. The enduring problem with this issue is that almost everyone else in the world other than significantly disabled people see this entirely as an issue of personal choice. Therefore, many disabled people say that they are in favor, at least for themselves, as Stephen Hawking does here. I think it is also worth noting that while Prof. Hawking is a brilliant physicist, he’s not necessarily any more savvy about social policy than anyone else. Some people have minds for politics and policy, some don’t.
Honestly, there is no theme - May 7, 2015
This is a lovely, simple answer to a particular form of “Inspiration Porn,” the kind surrounding proms and dating and non-disabled people in relationships with disabled people. It’s also good once in awhile to hear really great stuff about disability from people without disabilities, and who are not experts with credentials. It’s a valuable reminder that some non-disabled people don’t need to be “educated” … they just get it on their own.
John Meagher, The Montreal Gazette - June 6, 2015
The language in this article is horrible. The story itself isn’t bad. My question is, how do journalists determine what kinds of personal stories about disabled people are newsworthy? Not to take anything away from this new graduate, but it isn’t nearly as rare and remarkable for severely disabled people to graduate from high school as it used to be. At some point, won’t it become the expected thing, praiseworthy, but not enough for a big-city newspaper article?
Cripperella - June 2, 2015
I occasionally have to contend with people not just offering, but pushing help on me. Trust me, and trust “Cripperella,” it’s not always enough to just be polite in return. Some Good Samaritans need to be told … in words, flat, curt voices, or glares … to back off.
Mobility International USA - May 28, 2015
Here is a “feel good” disability story that works, that isn’t gross and sickly sweet. Just report the facts, and then let disabled people say what those facts mean to them.
Disability.TV Ep. 24 - Red Band Society
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Red Band Society (IMDB)
Amputee OT (YouTube Channel)
Star Ratings for Red Band Society
Andrew - 2 1/2 stars
Christina - 3 1/2 stars
Weekly Wrap-Up
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Monday, June 1, 2015
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Friday, June 5, 2015
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Social Security Reform - Followup
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Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press - June 5, 2015
It looks like there is somewhat more credible evidence now that at least some of the concerns about Social Security Disability are warranted. $17 billion is a lot of money, though it’s worth noting that this is the estimated total overpayment over ten years.
Still, it underscores the importance of disabled people being involved, and maybe taking the lead, in reform efforts. The article mentions the agency recovering $8.1 billion in overpayments, but it costs money to recover overpayments, and “recover” means forcing beneficiaries to pay the money back, with interest. In cases of outright fraud, I don’t have a problem with that. But what about people who are disabled and just worked a few too many hours a week that never got processed properly, or who forgot to report some paychecks, or, let’s face it, maybe never fully understood the whole wage reporting / Trial Work Period / Ticket To Work apparatus and made some easily overlooked but highly costly mistakes?
That’s why simplifying the whole thing appeals to me, along with online reporting of earnings or some kind of automatic tracking that works in concert with the IRS, which gets regular wage reports already. These can sound kind of Big Brother, but I would much rather focus on improving real-time accuracy all around than go for more punitive measures that will satisfy Rand Paul and Orrin Hatch’s craving for pounds of flesh, but perhaps do little to make the system better.
And then there is the sad example of the United Kingdom, which has been putting its disabled people through the ringer for two or three years now, to try and squeeze out the “scroungers” that Daily Mail and Telegraph readers are certain plague their system.
We will need to beware of being co-opted, and of legitimizing really bogus ideas about disability, but who better than disabled people themselves to offer constructive criticism and ideas to make Social Security’s disability programs more efficient and effective?
As is so often the case, the key here is "Nothing About Us Without Us." Usually that's quoted in situations where disabled people are omitted or kept out of important discussions and decisions. In this case, it's probably up to us to join in. Failure to do so may be just as harmful as if we were being kept out.
As is so often the case, the key here is "Nothing About Us Without Us." Usually that's quoted in situations where disabled people are omitted or kept out of important discussions and decisions. In this case, it's probably up to us to join in. Failure to do so may be just as harmful as if we were being kept out.
Disabled Youth & Vampire Slayers
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Early yesterday morning, while I lay in bed snoozing and listening to a podcast, I came across some unexpected insight into part of the disability experience, thanks to Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
The podcast I was listening to is called Dusted, in which husband and wife professional writers dissect and analyze every episode of Buffy, focusing particular attention to writing and storytelling technique.
The insight came when Loni and Alastair were talking about Joyce, mother of Buffy, (teenage slayer of vampires), and Giles, Buffy's “Watcher,” that is, her trainer, supervisor, and mentor. The thought that woke me up fully is that Joyce and Giles’ different approaches to Buffy and her “special” identity look a lot like the different perspectives we see on what it means to have a disability.
To be clear, Buffy isn’t disabled. The premise of the show is that she is more or less “chosen,” by mysterious forces nobody controls, to be “the one girl in all the world” endowed with the strength, durability, and instinct to slay vampires and demons … who in the universe of the show are quite real, though most people don’t know it. Buffy did not choose this role. Although it comes with near-superhero powers, being the “chosen one” is also a massive burden, and pretty much precludes living a “normal life.” In fact, being The Slayer means a rather short life is pretty likely. Much of the first two seasons of the show involves Buffy coming to terms with her identity and duty. She wants to be a “normal” teenage girl … go to school, have friends, have a boyfriend, go to dances … and she does all of those things to some extent. But as Giles often reminds her, her life can never be “normal.” Whether she likes it or not, there is an important part of her identity that she can’t change. She can try to deny it, even run away from it, but on the show it’s clear that she will only find a semblance of peace and fulfillment if she embraces it.
(Spoilers ahead!)
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| Joyce and Buffy |
Joyce finds out that Buffy is The Slayer late in the second season, and while she accepts the truth of it rather more quickly than any real-world parent would, her reaction reminded me of a parent dealing with a child’s disability. Notably, there are one or two moments where the writers have Joyce draw direct parallels to having a child who turns out to be gay, another type of identity where some people mistakenly hope that a little determination might make it not be so. “Have you tried not being The Slayer,” Joyce pleads. Later, when Buffy gets great SAT scores, Joyce latches onto this like a life preserver. Buffy can go to a college far away and escape this Slayer thing! Obtain all the trappings of normalcy, look normal and act normal, and you will be normal.
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| Buffy and Giles |
Giles has a more subtle view. He knows, and endeavors to impress on Buffy, that she will never live a normal life. However, she can live a good life. In fact, fulfilling her unusual “destiny” is an important part of Buffy living a good, and fulfilling life.
Buffy's "parents" both want the best for her. Neither wants to see her suffer or struggle with things a teenager should never have to struggle with. But Joyce still thinks there might be a way out, while Giles knows there isn't, but that it still can be OK for Buffy, if she is proactive and embraces her role.
I am not suggesting that having a disability is anything like being a superhero … a tempting but misleading comparison. Having a disability isn't much like being a mystically chosen vampire slayer with a life-long, world-saving mission.
Yet, there are similarities.
Disability is partly a condition, partly an identity, something nobody chooses, and most people can't really escape. Like Buffy, you can live a good life, but there's going to be some danger, hardship, and some very specific kinds of pain. Most people, even some of those closest to you, don't really "get" what your life entails.
What hit me like a freight train is that Joyce and Giles’ different understandings of Buffy’s “special” identity tells us a lot about how we view the road ahead for youth with disabilities.
The “Joyce" strategy is to turn away, mask the disability, don't acknowledge or "give in" to it. Try just the right things, try hard enough, and you might just make it go away. I think this works for some people with certain kinds of disabilities, but more often it simply delays a real reckoning. Still, it’s an understandable reaction, and it may be going too far to say that it is entirely wrong.
The “Giles" approach may at first seem bleak, but it is just as loving and optimistic. He knows that Buffy’s unique identity is inescapable, and that the best thing to do about it is make the best of it. He doesn’t see this as settling for less, either. Being the Slayer is a gift. Buffy has an important role to play. And, her life can be wonderful as much because of that as in spite of it. It’s just going to be very different from what Joyce, and even Buffy, may have had in mind. It is like that with disabilities, too.
Whether you are disabled yourself or have a friend or family member with a disability, what are you … a Joyce, or a Giles?
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Disability Blogger Link-Up - Post Your Favorite Disability Sites
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I have decided to offer another Disability Blogger Linkup this weekend, even though we just had one last week and I normally post them every
two
weeks. As always, you can post anything you like, as long as its related to disability.
However, this time around I’m asking everyone to consider posting links to your favorite disability-related
websites
,
blogs
,
podcasts
, and
video blog
sites. What disability-related stuff do you read, listen to, or watch on a regular basis? Share it with the community!
Important note:
To make the links easier to identify, in the “Your name” blank, type the
title of the article or the name of website
. In the "Your URL" blank, paste the whole website address of the item you are posting.
Then click the "Enter" button. That's it!
Have fun posting and reading! This Link-Up will close at Midnight Eastern on Sunday. Look for the next regular Disability Blogger Link-Up Friday, June 12, 2015.