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Academy Awards and Film Disability

speaking of disability narratives. https://t.co/rTYmKeVsoP — David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) March 5, 2018 Million Dollar Baby was heavily criticized by disability groups for promoting the view that being paralyzed was worse than being dead. This, of course, was also the case for the less-critically-successful Me Before You. You can see an archive of such responses … Continue ReadingAcademy Awards and Film Disability

Handler Cancelled – Now Fight the “Free Speech” Framing

Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, has cancelled his plans to speak at Wesleyan for commencement, and will be replaced by Anita Hill. This is the correct outcome. If somehow you missed it, I wrote about Snicket and the allegations of sexual harassment last week. Now the usual “free speech” folks are going to claim this … Continue ReadingHandler Cancelled – Now Fight the “Free Speech” Framing

SF Disability Rights Advocates Sues Uber

In San Francisco, Disability Rights Advocates is suing Uber. Report from SF Examiner: Although Uber has a wheelchair-accessible service, called Uber WAV, in the Bay Area, Disability Rights Advocates wrote in the complaint that the service is “a sham.” The group conducted a test of the service and found that in Alameda County, not a single … Continue ReadingSF Disability Rights Advocates Sues Uber

“I treat everyone the same.”

I’ve been thinking about the way that “treating everyone the same” functions to magnify privilege and reinforce extant power dynamics, rather than promoting equality. Two examples from divergent worlds. First, Daniel Handler’s statement on Gwenda Bond’s blog. At one point he writes, “As someone who’s been a struggling author, I take seriously the responsibilities of … Continue Reading“I treat everyone the same.”

Against Incremental Consensus on Firearms

I like incrementalism, but the NRA has made it impossible. Even the massacre of children, churchgoers, country music fans, and teenagers, hasn’t helped. So let’s change the context. I wrote against the Second Amendment for Pacific Standard: When I say “repeal the Second Amendment,” I am not saying that we should criminalize all private ownership … Continue ReadingAgainst Incremental Consensus on Firearms

Lemony Snicket and #MeToo

I wrote this today. A little context, including the fact that Wesleyan University intends to put him on stage with, of all people, Anita Hill /1 https://t.co/G9289DC6sj — David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) February 22, 2018 A lot here on my latest article. More to come on Wesleyan, in particular, as I watch how this moves.

Ableist Job Ads

I’ve written a lot about ableism in job ads. Here’s one from last year. I’ve never seen this before – I see it as a compromise move. For a disability services associate director at Texas Christian University: Physical Requirements (With or Without Accommodations): Visual acuity to read information from computer screens, forms and other printed … Continue ReadingAbleist Job Ads