Happy Mother’s Day. I planted lilacs, and then together we filled in our flower and vegetable garden. This morning, I’m making two kinds of crepes – sweet (with nutella or fruit or jam) and speck + cheese savory ones. I also ground a lamb leg recently and made sausage, and am considering whether some of that…
Prisons are the asylums of our age. We just don’t call them that. Then, when people with mental disabilities end up incarcerated, they are horrifically vulnerable to abuse from both prison employees and other prisoners. Moreover, prison staff even when not intentionally abusive, are not well-trained in responding to the needs of people with disabilities,…
@Lollardfish Rly like that you took on “boondoggle” issue. By def’n not a boondoggle for those who have to pay our own way much of the time. — Carrie Schroeder (@ctschroeder) May 6, 2015 Yesterday at the Chronicle of Higher Education, I had a new piece defending academic conferences. I talk about the kinds of…
When Eric Garner’s killers were not charged, I wrote a piece for CNN about the intersection of disability and race in his and other deaths at the hands of law enforcement. Ever since I heard that Freddie Gray asked for an inhaler before the police closed the door on the van and began give him…
Yesterday a professor at Princeton saw fit to ask in the New York Times “What is the purpose of the conference?” She meant is as a setup for a rant about how boring they are all are, writing: If everyone is content with the conference as a legitimate custom, why do post-conference sentiments typically range from disappointment…
How we talk about disability matters. For example, I have often criticized Autism Speaks and anti-vax groups (not the same – AS is not AntiVax, they have other problems) for the way they talk about autism as a disease needing a cure. I assure you, my autistic friends are not diseased. Moreover, it’s absolutely clear…
This week I got very mad at the Washington Post for sharing a document intended to provide the police with an exculpatory narrative in the case of Freddie Gray. On Freddie Gray, the Washington Post, and Journalism We afford the police a lot of respect in terms of creating narratives. I think that has to stop….
Larry Backer is a named law professor at Penn State and a former chair of the Faculty Senate. These credentials matter, because when he attacks the faux system of shared governance at Penn State, as he does in this blog post, it might get taken seriously. The piece is a long discussion of a recent…
The world of comics, from Hollywood to the toys you buy for infants, is packs with sexism. Last January, I shared a letter from and 11-year-old girl to DC Comics, asking them to merchandise more girl-related products. The letter went viral. Now DC has released the “Hero Girls,” a pretty great line of products. They…
Reporter: what will prevent another Freddie Gray? Mosby: Accountability. R:There hasn’t been any for so long. Mosby:You’re getting it now. — stacia l. brown (@slb79) May 1, 2015 Here’s the video. Short version – charges against all 6 officers. Cultural change is slow – whether inside police culture or America’s culture. But accountability is a…