“Katherine Lavoie spent the last moments of her life with her husband pointing a gun at her. Olivia Clarence was four years old, and the last thing that will ever happen to her was her mother cutting off her air. Olivia’s brothers, Ben and Max, ended their lives the same way. They were three years…
Two stories this week on the Ruderman Family Foundation report on the media coverage of filicide of disabled people. The report, for which I was the lead author, found: Approximately once a week, a person with a disability is murdered by a family member or caregiver. We have found that when these murders are covered,…
Later today the Ruderman Foundation will publish a white paper on media coverage of the killing of people with disabilities by their parents and other caregivers. I read hundreds of articles and analyzed the ways in which they too often exacerbate stigma, even as a disabled person lies slain. The document consists of my media…
The Ruderman Foundation has just released a new white paper, in collaboration with actor Danny Woodburn, on people with disabilities on scripted TV. What they found wasn’t surprising, but it’s also not good. You can read the white paper here. Coverage from Variety here. An LA Times op-ed by the Woodburn and Jay Ruderman here. There are…
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…