Journalist – Historian – Speaker
I’m heading to Macalester College to teach a public writing workshop today. Hey, I could come to your college or university and teach one! I offer them to both faculty and graduate students, or both together! Image Description: A flyer with pictures of me and some keen stock photos. Accessible infoat the “Speaking” page above.
I am giving a talk today at the Wisconsin Historical Museum. A few resources: My presentation A Google Cultural Institute introduction to the disability rights movement for which I was the lead writer. EUGENICS IN WISCONSIN Persons sterilized in Wisconsin from 1931-1933 (499 individuals. Author advocates continuing). By Frank C. Richmond, State Director of Psychiatric …
So Comey said Trump is “crazy,” but before that George Will said Trump is “disabled” by Hubris. Will, of course, is the famous father of a man with Down syndrome, so this is particularly disappointing. One of my critiques of the mental health discourse is that by all accounts Trump has spent his life acting …
The video linked here shows an aide hitting a 6 year old autistic child in the face. The school’s excuse – the child spit on the aide. There’s plenty to be said about the lack of training of aides, lack of standards, the rise of video surveillance in school and the potential problems (video can …
I hesitated to write this blog post, because it jeopardizes a potential outlet for coverage of disability-related stories. Being a freelancer means that criticizing anybody threatens future income streams. Tonic, the health page at Vice (and thus a disability venue) has a good article on the failure of colleges to teach consent. It looks at …
I’m always interested in tracking the ways that hatreds intersect and magnify. Here’s a classic one, still vibrantly alive among American racists. The New Yorker published a long article on the racists behind the mustard-based South Carolina BBQ sauce. The family that developed it has a long history of racism, and the man behind “Piggie Park” …
Every time there’s a new interview with Donald Trump, my social media feeds pop with people speculating about the president’s mental condition. For example: Scarborough & @ABC‘s Stephanopoulos were the 1st to normalize candidate Trump doing phone-in intvu’s, so this is both late & disingenuous. https://t.co/eKGHCUMBsq — Victoria Brownworth (@VABVOX) May 2, 2017 Here’s a …
Alabama GOP congressman Mo Brooks said that people who make “good choices” deserve better healthcare, thus framing the sick as morally inferior, as culpable. It’s not a new argument. “It will allow insurance companies to require people who have higher health care costs to contribute more to the insurance pool that helps offset all these …
A man who trains security guards sprayed pepper spray in the face of an autistic man who was taking a free cookie. He was the training director of one of St. Paul’s largest security companies — a man certified on when and how to use Mace.Which left police mystified as to why Timothy Knutsen would …