So can we talk about how Finding Nemo had not one, but three major characters with disabilities? And how all of those characters (Nemo, Dory, and Gill) were fully fledged characters? And how a core message of the movie was that disability=/=incompetence or worthlessness? And that the movie accomplished this without ever turning into “inspiration porn” or even making it a big deal?
Can we talk about that?
Because it’s kind of awesome.
“Disability is often treated as though it were a deviation from the rule. In fact, it is not an anomaly. One out of five persons in the U.S. has an impairment, yet disability is perceived as an "oddity" rather than as a natural occurrence. ”
—Marta Russell, Beyond Ramps:Disability at the End of the Social Contract
A quick primer on why and how WORDS *ARE* VIOLENCE, and there is no such thing as "just an opinion" when someone's human rights are at stake
An autistic person writes a post mentioning being a parent. This is a response from someone who reblogged it:
I can’t believe you are thirty-two…
And the fact that you’re autistic and a mother. Autistic people shouldn’t be allowed to parent or have kids. Sick.
That’s certainly an opinion. It’s a very POPULAR opinion.
Between 1930 and the late 1970s, more than 64,000 Americans were forcibly sterilized under state Eugenics laws that sanctioned the sterilization of anyone deemed “physically or mentally unfit”.
Here is a case in which parents not only had their 6-year-old disabled daughter’s uterus and ovaries removed, but also her breasts, as well as several other permanent surgical changes that would ensure she would never get any bigger than a 6-year-old. In 2005. THEY HAVE A WEBSITE ENCOURAGING OTHER PARENTS TO DO WHAT THEY DID.
As for specifically autistic people, many allistics (non-autistics) are making a lot of money sharing their opinions on whether or not we should have human rights, including the right to have children.
So, tell me again how this is “just an opinion”?
How is it “just an opinion” when that “opinion” is held by people who have the power TO MAKE THAT “OPINION” OUR LIVED REALITY?
Some people seem to think I’m “too angry”. It might be “just my opinion” but there are far too many people who aren’t angry ENOUGH.
Friendly reminder: Always ask for permission to touch a mobility aide used by someone who is handicapped. Devices such as wheelchairs, braces, slings, canes, etc. are considered to be part of our bodies, so touching them is the same as coming up and touching us. If you wouldn’t use direct physical contact with that person normally, then don’t touch their mobility aide.
The Apollo Report: Wisconsin State Assemblyman Dan LeMathieu calls special needs children "a burden on our schools"
apolloreport.blogspot.comAt a gathering of school board members and public school administrators in Madison, Wisconsin, Republican Wisconsin State Assemblyman Dan LeMathieu said that special needs children are “a burden on our schools.”
This comes as members of the Republican-controlled Wisconsin State Legislature are set to vote on a state budget, which was proposed by Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, that includes a proposed special needs school voucher program.
Dan LeMathieu admitted the real reason why he and his fellow Republicans in Wisconsin want to implement a special needs school voucher program: because they believe that allowing special needs children to attend public schools is “a burden” on public schools, and, therefore, they want to make it difficult, if not impossible, for public schools to be able to accommodate special needs children, forcing many parents of special needs children to send their children to private schools, where there is no guarantee that their educational needs will be properly accommodated.
As someone who was a special needs student in a small-town public school district in Central Illinois, I know that special needs students are NOT a “burden” on public schools. My teachers knew how to deal with me and treated me with respect, and they didn’t consider it a “burden” to teach me.
I find it to be absolutely appalling that an elected official would make offensive, disparaging remarks about special needs children.
I was once a special needs student in school, and it ticks me off!
To say that a special needs student is a “burden” is flat out insulting to the nth degree!
h/t: The Apollo Report
Respect adaptive technology
Technology is amazing.
It means that we don’t all have to be subsistence farmers. And that we can live in places with deadly cold climates. And that we have safe water. And that we can go places quickly that used to take days of walking. And that we can communicate with people on the other side of the world.
These are all good things. And they’re all things that we can take for granted, because depending on technology makes it possible.
And yet - when a person with a disability uses technology which most people don’t use, people say many versions of this:
- Well, I used to use PECS with him, but he can say a few words if he really tries, and I didn’t want him to become dependent
- She can walk. I’ve seen her. Why is she using a wheelchair?
No matter what you use, as a disabled person, someone is likely to say that you shouldn’t be using it and should be trying harder not to depend on technology.
It isn’t reasonable. And bearing that in mind makes life easier.
“As I get older, as time goes by, I care less and less and less about whether someone can talk pretty. I care about action. At the end of the day, I don’t care how well you can articulate your perfectly punctuated anti-oppressive political points, I don’t care how many buzzwords fall from your mouth, I don’t care if you name-drop a thousand acronyms or theorists – I care if you will show up. I care if you will fucking show up. And I know that showing up is complicated when you struggle with whether or not you can get outta bed. Sometimes showing up means biking to a friend’s house with coconut water & ginger ale & Saltines when she has stomach flu. Sometimes it means sharing your leftover pain meds from your emergency root canal when a friend has a pain spike. Sometimes it means making soup in a friend’s kitchen, stocking his fridge & freezer, blowing him a kiss across his bedroom & miming tucking him up under his sheets, because you can’t actually tuck him in or kiss him good-bye, because your own immune system is fragile enough as it is. And sometimes it means texting a little emoticon heart from your own sick bed, where you are laid up with a shoulder that aches so bad when the weather gets damp (which is a lot in San Francisco), or a stomach that can’t digest a fucking thing, or clogged-up sinuses, or a throat on fire, or a wet raspy cough. Sometimes it just means saying Honey, I love you. Honey, my sick heart reaches out to your sick heart. Honey, I wish I could be there, and I can’t, but I can do this. You mean the world to me. Sister. Brother. Love.”
—
Vote for Shad Sexton - Jasonville, IN in the 2013 National Mobility Awareness Month Local Hero contest!
mobilityawarenessmonth.comHey a family friend of mine could really use tumblr’s help.
In July last year, Shad was in an accident that resulted in him becoming a quadriplegic. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he lives in a very rural town in Indiana and has to travel to Chicago for treatment and therapy. However, because of his size and the added weight of his wheelchair, he doesn’t fit into standard transport vehicles so he has no transportation in his area. Right now his mom is renting a van from 100 miles away, driving home, loading it, then driving to Chicago and back. It’s very costly and very time consuming.
By voting for Shad, he can win a vehicle that can meet his needs. To quote him, “My being a quad isn’t what’s disabling me. What’s disabling me is not having the tools I need to function to the best of my ability.” He wants to continue living his life and mentoring others who need help, but he needs that van to do it.
So please, just take 5 seconds to vote for him. It would really help him and his family out.
