Journalist – Historian – Speaker
I was recently contacted by two writers and advocates working on pushing digital media to provide audio descriptions for the show Switched at Birth. You can read about their efforts here. Audio descriptions are always necessary to make TV and movies fully accessible, but this show, with its frequent use of ASL, makes them especially …
I tried to watch Breaking Bad years ago with the rest of you, but as the story quickly unfolded around questions of disability and cancer, I had to stop, for personal family reasons. Now, the show long over and the spoilers nicely spoiled, I’m trying again (on the treadmill). Disability informs so much of the …
Born This Way was the new Down syndrome reality show that aired over December and January. I wrote a review of it here as basically fine TV limited by its artificial format. Here, though, is a really detailed essay on the show including, wonderfully, interviews with self-advocates about watching it. Opinions, of course, vary widely, no …
In April 2014, Sesame Street announced a partnership with Autism Speaks. Autistic indivduals and their allies quickly organized to push Sesame Street to do better, and not listen solely to a group dedicated to perpetuating the worst stereotypes about autism. The results are pretty good. From an LA Times article on the process: Children with …
Last year, a reporter at the Chicago Tribune called me to ask, “Was medieval life really the way it’s Game of Thrones?” I said yes, of course, nearly everyone had a dragon, was a zombie, or carried around ancient swords made of semi-magical iron. Screenshot: A dragon looms over a cowering shepherd. depicted during Ok, I …