In Washington State, the Special Olympics organized a number of “Run From the Cops” events, with the final one taking place next week. I’ll let them explain. Grab a “partner in crime” and support the more than 10,000 Special Olympics Athletes across the state in this unique nighttime 5K. Walkers, runners, kids and costumes are…
This week was focused on what the Kanye West incident tells us about disability in our culture. I wrote a brief blog post about it here, linking it to another post on the “pencil test.” It got a very good response, so I wrote another piece about it for CNN, building on the argument. That too…
Last Tuesday, CNN published an essay of mine that took the occasion of Kanye West’s bad behavior, in which he demanded fans prove their disabilities, to talk about the way that this happens to people with disabilities all the time. Response was mostly very positive, but I always pay attention to criticisms, even though I…
I started writing about police violence and disability because of the death of Ethan Saylor. I had read stories like this for years, but when Ethan died, unlike during previous tragedies, I had a few links to media. I first wrote this piece for The Nation. I then wrote this widely-read piece for CNN and…
On Chronicle Vitae, today, I will have a new essay about ending the conference interview. In it, I offer ways to make the shift into a positive rather than a surrender to austerity. Listen. The conference interview is, in fact, already dead. Video interview technology is getting better and better, funds are limited, and like…
Today I have a new piece on CNN about Kanye West. I build on yesterday’s blog post, expanding my argument that the Kanye West’s behavior is a magnified celebrity egotistical version of the kinds of skepticism and suspicion faced people with disabilities all the time. In the piece, I write: Reaction to this incident throughout…
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog that was pretty widely read and shared (compared to my other posts) on the “Pencil Test” for disability. It focused around a man flung to the ground by Florida police, to see if he was really disabled or just faking it. There’s actually a lot of discourse…
Get it? It’s a roundup! Today is Sunday. I am not watching the NFL. For me, being a football fan was a major part of my identity, one that intensified with the advent of Fantasy Football. As the concussion scandal intensified, I began to scale back my engagement with the game. First quitting fantasy, then…
As surely all of you know by now, the hiring then unhiring of Steven Salaita at the University of Illinois has highlighted many important issues for higher education. Much of the discussion has, correctly, focused on how we may and may not discuss Israel and fundamental questions about academic freedom and faculty governance. As the…
As indicated by the header of my blog, I focus on language, power, and privilege. One principle that I have consistently applied, whether talking about gender, race, academic life, whatever, is that when you have privilege and power, your speech is more constrained than if you do not. I wrote about this kind of issue…