Monday Roundup – Justice, Disability, Freedom, Lies

Usually I post my roundup on Sunday, but just so much is going on that I wrote a post instead. And I should have an article going up later today. Here are my recent posts.

• Seattle Museum and How to Write/Program for Disability: Seattle has a neat program for “autistic kids.” I laud the program, but say let’s focus on the need and not the diagnosis. This is for children with various sensory issues, not just autistic kids.
• Nicholas Kristof and How to Be an Ally – Based on Kristof’s latest ill-advised tweet telling #BlackLivesMatter activists how to be activists, I offer a few thoughts on how to be an ally. Step 1. Listen. Step 2. Remember it’s not about you …
• Video: The Power of Teamwork – From the lighter side, my daughter fights the patriarchy with a video of action figures smashing each other on the head.
• #CultOfCompliance – Five Wheelchair Users Attacked by Police/Security – A recent video from San Francisco has gone viral. I link it to four other attacks and talk about dehumanization.
• Academics: Say Nothing if you Want a Job. – 80% of provosts think civility is relevant for hiring/tenure/promotion. It’s the biggest attack on public engagement yet.
• #SOTU4PWD – The Fight for Disability Rights and Economic Justice are the Same Fights – I offer some intersectional fights on disability rights and economic justice in the wake of the Sate of the Union.
• Academic Freedom – Carol Swain, Steven Salaita, etc. In the wake of a vile Islamophobic column published by Carol Swain, a Vanderbilt law prof, I return to my mantra. I believe in the principle of academic freedom. If I don’t apply it to those with whom I disagree, I have no principles.
• Faux-Information: Indiana and the Collapse of the Pro-Information Coalition: A new Indiana proposed law demonstrates the efforts anti-choicers to hijack the pro-information movement for their own purposes. It’s got to be stopped, and frankly, it’s got to be conservative people in the Down syndrome movement who stop it.