Journalist – Historian – Speaker
One of the hallmarks of this blog, at least as I envisioned, is to be unfailingly critical even when that’s uncomfortable. I’m willing to point to problems and disability representation in works of journalism, literature, and art, even from people whose work I admire. I try to be equally critical of my own conduct, and …
Over the weekend and yesterday on the blog, I started collecting experiences with the TSA in the wake of the awful viral story from Memphis. It’s a classic case of the #CultOfCompliance, and I expect to be writing more about this topic in due time. I hope, though, that as we advocate for change, we do …
Vilissa Thompson, over at Ramp Your Voice, has put together a “Black Disabled Woman Syllabus.” It’s a massive collection of links from various intersectional angles, a living document always ready to be expanded, and a fantastic resource. Thompson writes: Over the past few weeks, I have been approached by individuals who wanted to understand the …
My home-away-from-home community of Minneapolis-St. Paul just learned that the police officers who killed Jamar Clark will not be charged. This case has become a focal point for Black Lives Matter in the Twin Cities. There’s another case though, that is getting both legislative and media attention: John Birkeland. He was killed during a mental …
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, …
Yesterday the Ruderman Family Foundation published their White Paper on Media Coverage of Law Enforcement Use of Force and Disability. I have been working with Lawrence Carter-Long on this for months, tracking hundreds of newspaper stories. We see disability as a missing piece in so many of the critical conversations about police use-of-force and hope …
Shared by many of my friends, this is a sad, but important, articulation of the ways that oppressive forces intersect in individuals who have more than one marginalized identity. While over half of children who identify as LGBT have experienced homophobic, biphobic or transphobic bullying, this drastically increases among disabled LGBT people.A survey found that …
Basic principle: The fight for basic economic justice for everyone is the fight for better lives for people with disabilities. #SOTU4PWD — David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) January 21, 2015 Yesterday President Obama mentioned “Americans with mental illness or physical disability” as part of his long list of inclusive terms. This is not my preferred language. …
From Wikipedia: Intersectionality (or intersectionalism) is the study of intersections between forms or systems of oppression, domination or discrimination. An example is black feminism, which argues that the experience of being a black female cannot be understood in terms of being black, and of being female, considered independently, but must include the interactions, which frequently …