Pretty much everyone agrees that fostering creativity is one of the most important things you do for a child. Skills are all well and good, of course, but the ability to imagine and create matter so much to overall development. One way to foster, of course, is by reading to them and then with them,…
Wisconsin has good rules for independent review of police killings, at least partially as told through this story in Politico. The author tells the story of his son’s death, the lawsuit, and then the campaign to get an independent review law passed. He concludes: Finally we began to get some movement, helped by a friendly…
This is one of the worst essays I have ever read on disability. An abled person informing the disability community that inspiration porn is a good thing. She even has the audacity to cite Stella Young. Here’s the piece, then a commercial that I think does a better job. There’s a debate raging on the…
Hey, so someone playing disabled won an Oscar last night. Later today I am going to write about the worst example of able-splaining I’ve seen in a long time, in which a non-disabled person tells everyone why inspiration porn is great. But first, here’s a disability-related critique of Theory of Everything. Short version – it’s…
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network has just alerted me to an ongoing issue in the state of New Jersey. Amazing, New Jersey has come up with a great new plan to move away from group homes and institutions and bring real support into the communities. That model threatens providers’ revenue streams, though, and they are…
I’ve missed a few Sundays, mostly because so much has been going on that I can’t stop writing long enough to breathe and assess. I’ll try to do better. Here’s the week. Published – Facebook and Fear: The story of one woman’s decision to keep her child with Down syndrome, facilitated through some quick Facebook…
A few weeks ago I wrote about an anti-choice bill in Indiana that was designed to drive a wedge between disability rights and reproductive rights activists. I argued: As we head into the 2015 legislative session, we need to be prepared for anti-choice filed a bill last week to prohibit abortions based on fetal determinations…
In Spokane, a woman stabbed her autistic son in the neck. Here is 100% of the information on the victim (link here): Court documents say the 17-year-old son had several cut marks on his neck and throat, but officials say his wounds were not life threatening. The rest of the piece is about how hard…
OPINIÓN: No debemos temerle al síndrome de Down http://t.co/3YRfPluotm pic.twitter.com/zKsFTjcSgO — CNN en Español (@CNNEE) February 19, 2015 I have a new piece up at CNN (here’s the English language version. I’ve just never, to my knowledge, been translated before, so sharing this!). I try to make some big points, but at the core there’s…
It started, as it so often does, with a family member calling 911 for help for a loved one in mental health crisis. Lavall Hall was outside, in Miami Gardens, when police arrived. He had a broomstick. Miami Gardens police officers Peter Ehrlich and Eddo Trimino fired their Tasers at Lavall Hall after he struck them…