Journalist – Historian – Speaker
St. Paul finally has implemented the ability to text 911. The disability accessibility implications here are enormous, of course, but like most systems that improve accessibility, everyone will benefit. One example, people in a dangerous domestic situation who can’t make a phone call, but who need to call for help.
Two posts on medievalism, apocalypticism, and the Jerusalem decision. By Matt Gabriele: As Trump “spiritual adviser” Paula White said, “Evangelicals are ecstatic, for Israel is to us a sacred place and the Jewish people are our dearest friends.” John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel, responded to Trump’s announcement by noting its precise …
Worth re-reading: How to talk about police reform (by Marianne Kaba): Ultimately, the only way that we will address oppressive policing is to abolish the police. Therefore all of the ‘reforms’ that focus on strengthening the police or “morphing” policing into something more invisible but still as deadly should be opposed. All reforms involving MORE, …
From the great s.e. smith, a new piece at Tonic (VICE) on disability and arrest rates: As conversations about disparities in police killings and incarceration rates hit the news, one researcher wanted to answer a simple question: What’s the demographic profile of people being arrested? “I was looking for data and I was unable to find …
ICYMI, I wrote this about my soon to be former senator. https://t.co/CRvLe9T8kg — David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) December 8, 2017 It’s time to shift to the politics. The next piece I am writing is about the need to start repeatedly calling for Donald Trump to resign, explicitly, on account of the credible allegations of serial …
On the myth of the “English major Starbucks barista.” From 2016, but in my feed last night and I missed this the first time around. What are we to make of this new old joke about the English major? Why did barista replace fast food worker? The fact is that English majors are not particularly …
Lawsuits work. Failure to provide accessible technologies for learners with disabilities can have serious consequences for universities. Many institutions have been sued in recent years for noncompliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act, ratcheting up pressure around accessibility issues. As a result, some universities are thinking about how they might work together to test the …
Finn Gardiner writes that “zero tolerance” policies disproportionately affect students of color, disabled students, and especially disabled students of color. Spurred by a violent altercation between a school resource officer and a Black student in 2015, South Carolina’s Department of Education introduced guidelines in the Safe Schools Taskforce Report in 2016 to reduce the likelihood …
We are not here for your inspiration. These crappy videos dehumanize Disabled people. If you are about to post this shit, think about why you’re doing it and don’t do it. https://t.co/JajDHCGhIx — WMWDisabilityCaucus (@WMWDisability) November 27, 2017 I see it’s time to refer back to the This Mess rules. 1. Don’t take pictures of …
Guest Post by Eric Weiskott. Weiskott teaches medieval English poetry at Boston College; he’s working on a book about the division of the past into medieval and modern periods. Last month Biloxi School District administrators pulled Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird from the junior high curriculum. “There is some language in the book that makes …