Journalist – Historian – Speaker
I have a new Storify on disability and diversity at Pomona college. Pomona passed a new “diversity and inclusion” initiative for tenure and promotion, which has received a lot of press. Disability has not, to my knowledge, been mentioned. I’m interested in the general lack of overlap between diversity initiatives and disability services. I think it …
When Donald Trump mocked a New York Times reporter who has a physical disability, he was instantly and roundly criticized from across the political spectrum. In a campaign marred by his sexism, racism, Islamophobia, and other hate speech, the disability insult picked up condemnation from people less concerned about Trump’s other remarks. Trump, of course, denied …
I’ve been following a case in Ardmore, Oklahoma, about parents who suspected that their child was being mistreated in school, so they enabled recording on the child’s “talker” device. Abusive language was, in fact, recorded, and the parents sued. The school has tried to block the use of the recorded content, but so far has …
Earlier in the week, Scott Weingart had a brave, essay on being autistic in academic, published in Inside Higher Education. Admitting mental illness or neurodevelopmental disorder is dangerous, unless you’re a middle-class white man diagnosed on the autism spectrum. If you’re black and/or a woman, or if you have depression or anxiety, you may be …
Apparently anti-semites use (((name))) to indicate to their friends that someone is a Jew who needs to be attacked on social media, which – as this article explains – is hard for the non-initiated to track. It’s clever and ugly. I removed links in the quote below, as I don’t want you accidentally clicking over. …
Me Before You is a movie about an abled girl who is taking care of a suicidal man who recently became a quadriplegic. They have a good time, then he kills himself and gives her all his money, so she can go off and have a good life. Or, as Hollywood likes to say, ROMANCE! There …
Last week The Guardian had a piece on the “first science fiction book,” an alchemy fantasy from 1617. I haven’t read The Chemical Wedding (though there’s a Kickstarter, now funded with 60k, that’s producing a new edition), but I was instantly skeptical of the “first” claim, so took to Twitter to ask for ideas of precursors. Juliet O’Brien, …
There’s a newish piece in Pacific Standard, a magazine for which I write, that criticizes the neurodiversity movement as being focused on a tiny group of super high functioning autistic folks. You can read it here. “The Autistic Academic” blog has written an excellent response. You can read it here. Please link to other responses …
I need to read more murder journalism. Does non-disability-related murder spend as much time exploring how killers justify their crimes? Here’s WaPo on Bonnie Lilitz, who killed her daughter: Bonnie Liltz, it seemed, had reached a desperate moment. At home in a Chicago suburb late last spring, Liltz penned a final note to her family, …
I have decided to stop giving in-class tests under any circumstances. Here’s my essay, from the Chronicle: I’ve been inching away from the blue book for years, but it’s time to go cold turkey and match my praxis to my principles. Whatever pedagogical gains the in-class test might bring — and I’ll argue they are …