Journalist – Historian – Speaker
I think a lot about how to process living through a global mass death event. I don’t know how to do it even for myself, but am pretty sure that we’re all experiencing levels of trauma, albeit in very different ways. I try to read stories of people we’ve lost until it gets too much. …
New in Pacific Standard: Since the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution was signed in 1983, granting equal legal rights to fetuses and pregnant women, it has functioned as a total ban on legal abortion. Next May, Ireland will hold a referendum over whether to repeal the amendment, and current polling suggests that pro-repeal will …
It’s happening. Ohio is going to pass an anti-choice bill that criminalizes speech between a woman and her doctor. I wrote about the ban here. Kasich will surely sign it. I’m pretty livid. This won’t help people with Down syndrome. It’s not intended to. It just keeps spreading stigma on the one hand, while serving as a …
NEW AT PACIFIC STANDARD: Ohio uses Down syndrome to attack reproductive rights. Ohio Republicans are the latest group to seize on Down syndrome as a wedge issue in the fight against reproductive choice. Senate Bill 164 would make it a felony for doctors to knowingly perform an abortion after a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. …
I wrote a story about my son watching the third Harry Potter movie, signing “deer” during the Patronus scene, and his engagement with stories. It’s a fairly serious piece, wrapped about some tearful and sweet moments, about presuming competence in an ableist world. Here’s why all this matters. Presuming competence is a fine concept, but …
Here’s a nice story about Craig Blackburn, a man with Down syndrome who plays Santa. It could so easily veer fully onto the Inspiration Porn side of the disability news spectrum (it’s not an either/or), and the title does go that way. “Metairie man with Down syndrome spreads cheer now and throughout the year” suggests …
The celebrity with disabled sibling genre of story tend to be pretty awful. The celebrity is asked about their sibling and, in response, the celebrity says things like overcome, inspiration, and other usual platitudes. This is partially because that’s how we’ve learned to talk about disability, partially because celebrities sell clicks and so interviewer isn’t …
Here’s the story. A woman agreed to be a surrogate mother, the fetus was diagnosed with Down syndrome, the couple demanded an abortion, the surrogate mother refused, the couple decided not to sue, and now the surrogate mother is living happily with her daughter and partner. They wrote a book, Saving Delaney, and got a …
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Great writing from Lydia Brown on healthcare disparities for disabled people of color. From both personal and professional experience, I am keenly aware that healthcare disparities are one of the most insidious and pervasive forms of discrimination impacting any underrepresented or minoritized group. These disparities are evident in quality of care, diagnostic accuracy, network adequacy, …