Catching Up On "Ouch"

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BBC Ouch: Disability Talk logo
A couple of evenings ago, I decided to catch up on a backlog of podcast episodes of Ouch: Disability Talk, the BBC's program dedicated to disability issues and culture. I keep forgetting how good the show is.

The hosts seem to have similar beliefs about disability as the activist disability bloggers I read, but they sound like they don't have to try as hard to express those beliefs.

They are casual and breezy ... aware, but not angry.

They are plain spoken, and steer clear of insider jargon.

They don't reject so-called Political Correctness, but they seem less anxious about it than one might expect.

Ouch gives equal voice to a broad spectrum of disabled people, including some with beliefs and ways of talking about disability that I don't like, that make me uncomfortable. Everyone gets a fair chance to say their piece. Meanwhile, the hosts ask probing questions, but don't pass judgment.

Of course they are British, and I like the way they say things, one minute funny:
"I was like, shuffling around like a granny, even more than I usually do."
The next, insightful:
“I think it’s true that people do want to get diversity. But it’s almost as if people want the “easy” disabilities ... I put that in very marked quotation marks … but you know they don’t want to deal with complex disabilities where lots of changes have to be made."
Ouch's hosts and guests often state flat-out some things we often think, but struggle to express:
Interviewer Kate Monaghan: "Surely all parents just want the best for their child?"
Guest Tracey Abbott: "Ah, all parents want their child to be as safe as they can be, and happy. That doesn’t necessarily equate to them going out and getting a job."
It's worth noting that later in the same show, Ms. Abbott says some pretty ignorant, borderline hateful things about what does and doesn't constitute a "real disability," which prompted a good deal of polite but sharp discussion among the hosts and guests.

And who could resist a show on disability with episode titles like:

“You walk funny"
Losing a leg, and being mugged
Who can use accessible loos?

I will be listening to Ouch more regularly.

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Support

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Thanks for helping any way you can!

Disability Blogger Link-Up

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The word Blog surrounded by word cloud

Time for another weekend Disability Blogger Link-Up. As always, you can post anything you like, as long as it's related to disability.

Technical note:

To make the links easier to identify, in the “Your name” blank, type the

title of the article

. In the "Your URL" blank, paste the 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, July 3, 2015.

Throwback Thursday

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Illustration of the time machine from the film "Time Machine"
Two years ago in Disability Thinking: Site Work ….

Right. So. The big, full-service website thing didn’t really work out. Basically, in addition to being difficult and expensive to pull off, it was probably unnecessary. An old-style forum or message board would certainly be antiquated and pointless. I can't see one ever filling up with comments from dozens of regulars.

I still hope at some point to have a real “home page” with matching links to take visitors to the Blog or the Podcast, but for now, the Blog will do for a landing point, and I will rely on menu tabs and things for better navigation.

I welcome suggestions though!

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A Must Read on Two Kinds Of Disabled People

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Close up picture of a computer keyboard key with a thumbs up symbol on it
Cara Liebowitz, That Crazy Crippled Chick - June 17, 2015

This article is way too great to leave for my weekend Weekly Reading List post.

First of all, I am “Ugly Disabled” as Cara defines it here. Which is to say that because of my disabilities, I mostly don't fit mainstream standards of physical attractiveness. Which is not to say that I hate how I look, or that there’s nothing physically attractive about me. It’s just that, like Cara and so many other disabled people, I don’t look “normal except for …” So, I relate to this very personally. I get where she’s coming from.

Second, I wholeheartedly second the part about how people who are “Pretty Disabled” seem to have a bit of a social edge on us, even in a community that’s all about inclusion and equality. When I first started working in Independent Living, and for the first time found myself in rooms filled with fellow disabled people of all kinds, I admired the ones who looked really slick and put-together in their cool, quiet, lightweight manual wheelchairs. And, I am ashamed to say, I felt less than fully comfortable around the disabled people "who rock and flap and whose speech is sometimes not fluent.” I got over both the hero-worship and the internalized ableism ... mostly ... but the distinctions are still there in my mind.

Finally, I would like to point out how beautifully and precisely Cara describes her disability, in a neutral, non-melodramatic tone, and with concrete terms anyone can understand. I don’t know whether it was therapeutic or revelatory for her, but I have sometimes found it helpful to write a description like this of my own disabilities. I wonder if that would be a good exercise for teenagers growing up with disabilities, to help them explore what disability means to them, as opposed to whatever they have been taught to think about it?

Please do follow the link and read the post. It is important and a pleasure to read.


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Diagramming Disability Issues

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Angelia Davis, Greenville Online - June 16, 2015

The issue discussed in this article isn’t very important, but it got me thinking about how we classify disability advocacy issues. I would like to offer a model.

I think that one way to look at any disability issue is to ask two questions:

1. Is it about rights or benefits?

and

2. How high or low are the stakes?

Let’s get really nerdy about it and draw a diagram:
Now let’s add some of the more familiar disability issues:
Free Airport Parking seems like a fairly Low Stakes issue, though not extremely low because some disabled people probably do travel a lot, and suddenly having to pay for parking will probably affect them quite a bit. It is also pretty firmly a Benefits issue, and only a matter of Rights if you believe that inexpensive parking is a right that disabled people should definitely have. Personally, I think the answer is, or should be, a qualified “no.” In the same quadrant but a bit lower stakes I placed Special Event Discounts … those discounts often given out at theme parks and county fairs and such. They are almost more like charity than rights, and of little real consequence to the disabled community. Whether you think they are nice gestures or whiff of condescension, either way they don’t change anyone’s lives.

To me, Accessible Parking belongs in the Rights / Low Stakes quadrant … clearly a Right, and of comparatively low importance. However, I would place it close to the High Stakes area. It’s important to some of us, on some occasions, and when we need it, Accessible Parking is very important indeed. But it’s probably not as important as the outrage and publicity surrounding it, especially generated from non-disabeld people. For some reason, it’s the one issue they consistently want to advocate for on our behalf.

Minimum Wage and Social Security Disability funding belong in the lower right quadrant, as they both mainly concern Benefits, (i.e., money), and directly affect disabled peoples’ ability to live independently and prosper in the community. There are Rights elements to both issues, though Minimum Wage is somewhat more about Rights than Social Security. Minimum Wage should be a Right, whether or not it amounts to a whole lot of money for any particular disabled person.

Finally, take a look at the High Stakes, Rights area. Home Care Funding is mostly a Rights issue, but also very much about monetary Benefits. It is also very clearly a High Stakes matter, as for many of us, Home Care is the keystone of our entire way of life. Without it, we can’t live where we live, and can’t do anything we usually do. Loss of Home Care can even shorten our lives. Stakes don’t get higher than that. Building Accessibility is even more of a pure Rights issue, not really a Benefit at all. And it’s important, but perhaps not always as High Stakes as a life-and-death issue like Home Care.

These are all personal judgment calls. It’s not an exact science. But figuring out the “location” of various disability issues might help us understand them better.

Also note that this model doesn’t include cultural issues, like “Inspiration Porn," or interpersonal issues, such as the terms people use to refer to disabled people. Maybe sometime I’ll try making a diagram of some sort for those.

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Good TV

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Is it possible for a TV show to be too progressive?

It’s a wonderful thing to come across a new TV show to love, entirely by accident. That happened to me a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled upon the Australian series, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. It’s like Downton Abbey on cocaine, and with more sex and murder.



Another aspect that caught me by surprise is that at least two of the episodes available on Netflix include characters with disabilities.

Season 1, Episode 12, “Murder in the Dark,” involves one of lead character Phryne Fisher’s adult cousins, who appears to have Cerebral Palsy. His portrayal is a mixed bag. In some ways he is treated like a great big child, and he seems to have internalized this, as he sort of acts like one. On the other hand, he isn’t hidden away and Phryne treats him with respect and affection pretty much the same as any close cousins of around the same age. He ends up seeming like a person who is cognitively impaired, but probably "smarter" than most people give him credit for.

Season 2, Episode 8, “The Blood of Juana the Mad,” takes place at a University, and involves a graduate student I am positive we are supposed to understand is autistic. Although she is a little on the stereotypical side, he is interesting partly because autism hadn’t been identified in the mid 1920s, which is when this show takes place. In this case, most people around her treat her like a “madwoman.” But Phryne and, following her lead, the other people on her team, just roll with the woman’s “quirks” and “obsessions," which immediately makes her seem less odd and allows a working relationship to develop.

One thing I haven’t quite decided yet is whether Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries is too progressive for a period piece. Many of the episodes deal with one social justice issue or another, not just disability. It sometimes seems like Miss Fisher has been sent back in time from 2015. It’s hard to imagine someone like her, in her, era having the liberal, open-minded views she has. All of her opinions are awesome. Just once I’d like to see her have a realistic 1920s prejudice about something ... a bit of highbrow anti-semitism, a conventional view of Aboriginals, or some other unpleasant but unsurprising attitude she could maybe struggle to overcome. Still, her easy progressivism does feel earned most of the time. Phryne is meant to be a free spirit and a non-conformist, who both fits into and clashes with her upper class upbringing. The best thing about this is that because people can't help liking her, they tend to find themselves adopting her ideas, sometimes much to their surprise. The progressivism on the show is a bit anachronistic, but it works.

This is something I think about a lot when it comes to disability on TV. Which is more important ... sending progressive messages about disability for today's audience, or accurately depicting how disabled people are treated in the eras and settings in which they are depicted? Seeing ableism on-screen can be upsetting, but the lack of it can make an otherwise good show feel like a nursery school lesson. I guess the key is finding the right balance.

I’ll probably have more to say about this question, and this great TV show, in an upcoming Disability.TV Podcast.

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Weekly Reading List

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Illustration of a stack of books of different colors.
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 had a busy week of Actual Life activities, so my blogging, tweeting, and browsing were on the low side.

Olivia Shivas, AttitudeLive - June 5, 2015\

I have almost reached the saturation point on discussing “Inspiration Porn,” and I’m not sure how effective we are at explaining it to he average non-disabled observer. This article does a pretty good job of it, focusing on the idea that disabled people simply being in media isn’t enough. It makes a difference how we appear and what the messages are.

Rob Stein, National Public Radio - June 9, 2015

This kind of situation complicates how many disabled people view advances in technology and treatment of disabilities. A better prosthetic hand, or a more effective hand transplant, can be a real tool for greater independence. On the other hand, these improvements are too often seen and portrayed as cure-alls for stigma and low self-esteem, rather than actual impairments. In any case, it is heartbreaking to read another story of a disabled person growing up with such intense self-loathing. I know it’s very common, and it deserves to be acknowledged and discussed, but somehow these articles rarely question the stigma and loathing themselves. They take for granted that the disabilities are, objectively, horrible and loathsome. How about an article about a kid born without a hand who grows up hating how he looks, and later accepting it and building self-worth … without an awesome new device or miracle surgery?

Lydia DePillis, Washington Post - June 10, 2015

Alice Wong, Making Contact - June 11, 2015

Here are two very different articles, covering the same basic topic from two very different angles. It’s interesting how disable people who rely for everyday assistance on paid caregivers have a much more detailed understanding of the ins and outs and, the ethics and the strategies of hiring and managing “domestic employees.” Granted, most disabled people don’t have much say in what their aides are paid, but they can decide on other ways to treat them with respect and show appreciation. And then there are the disabled people and families who do hire care providers with their own money. It is a relationship where the rules, both formal and informal, are still forming, still in flux.

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