Thursday, September 1, 2005
What YEAR Is This?
As a disabled, feminist, reproductive justice activist, I’ve spent more than my share of hours in dusty libraries researching the dark history of sterilization abuse of people (especially women) with disabilities. I know all about the forced sterilization of Deaf (capital D intentional) people in Nazi Germany because the Deaf were considered fit to work (unlike the mentally disabled, physically disabled, or blind who were just exterminated), but not to reproduce. I know that pro-choice heroine...
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Monday, April 11, 2005
In Memoriam: Alfredo Juarez
Fellow wheelchair warrior Alfredo Juarez died today of liver cancer. Despite his becoming more and more ill over recent years, his passing shocked me. Just over 40 days ago, Fredo was busy blockading the exit to J.W. Marriot in a snowstorm as most of the Governors of the United States tried to escape the wrath of ADAPT and go to breakfast with the President. The Secret Police had to lift him (and his several hundred pound electric wheelchair) out of the way and he was nearly run over by speeding...
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Saturday, March 26, 2005
In Memoriam: Debbie Steward
Fellow activist and friend Debbie Steward went home to God on October 9 th, although I just found out in January via ADAPT's quarterly newsletter and it has taken me nearly 3 months to write her eulogy. You see, I simply could not find the words to encapsulate Debbie. Typeface won't serve to illustrate her courage, her loyalty, or (most importantly) her smile. I have many memories of Debbie, a fellow Pennsylvania native who also had Cerebral Palsy... Dancing like a wild woman at many ADAPT end...
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Friday, March 25, 2005
Why I Want to Save Terri: A Reply to Dennison Mann
I discovered he following comment about an earlier entry in The Inner Workings ( the online journal I keep here on Blogit) when I logged on today. Normally, I let comments stand on their own. But this one I have to reply to. The comment: Why do you want to see Terri Schiavo endure a horrid existence? Why do you wish ill upon Michael Schiavo? He gains nothing from her death and Terri gains nothing from her own survival. She has already suffered for nearly 15 years. How much longer do you want her...
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Tuesday, March 22, 2005
In the event I End up in Terri's Situation, Here's What I Want
Columnist's Note: Do to the recent, disheartening news in the Terri Schindler-Schiavo case, I have finally decided to make a Document of Intention/Living Will. Although I know I need to see lawyer for it to be legal, that I also need to file and acquire some other legal documents, and that I need to mail it to everyone I want to have a copy, I figured posting it here would offer me some protection until I can do those things. I hope it makes you think, especially if you are disabled since we...
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Tuesday, March 1, 2005
Late report on DC events with ADAPT
Note: I'm sorry not to have blogged as promised. The action here in D.C. has been a little to event filled (some good, some bad) for that. Below is a report. On Sunday: I got up early to make sure that Ashe and Sahar got to the new people meeting. Then I went with Nigel Glozier, my friend's 12 year old and a generally helpful walkie PCA in training (despite his age) to pick up Elaine. We rode the trains to Union Station and then walked to the bus. The trains had some problems and my cell phone...
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Saturday, February 26, 2005
Greetings from DC!
I'm here in DC after a tiring train ride. I can't believe we got 3 people, 2 chairs, and all our stuff here. It's nuts. My friends' little boy, Nigel, is growing like a weed. I can't believe it. He has Cerebral Palsy like me. He tells me his girlfriend Jessica, who's in the 4th grade (he's in first), also does. How cute! Bet that kid's going to be a lady killer someday. I have eaten and hung out a bit. The serious work starts tomorrow with meetings, going to pick up Elaine, and marching at 5:30....
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Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Because...
Columnist's Note: The entry below is modeled on the series of activists postcards that begin with "Because" and than lists reasons one is a feminist, a supporter of gay and lesbian liberation, or whatever the card is advocating. Because fifteen years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), lifts on buses still don't work on a regular basis & People assume I can't order my own food in a restaurant & Store clerks give me the wrong change on purpose & I have to go to...
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Sunday, February 13, 2005
Celebrating the Broken Vagina
Columnist's Note: V-Day is an annual celebration of women and vaginas the world over that grew out Eve Ensler's one-woman, theatrical performance The Vagina Monologues. It is held each year near Valentine's Day in communities across the globe. Tomorrow, I'm speaking at our local event. My speech is below. While many established feminists and feminists organizations assumed that women's reproductive choice and control, in American anyway, were secured by the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, advocates...
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Saturday, January 8, 2005
Relief Supply Gathering: Help Ugandan Students with Disabilities
As many of you may or may not know, I am involved with supporting Good Samaritan Primary School, a boarding school for children with disabilities in Uganda. I first heard of the school when I met Waisswa Alimansi while I was attending Disabled Peoples International’s sixth world assembly in October of 2002. We were staying at the same hotel and happened to sit at the same breakfast table one morning. Over the course of small talk, it came out that we were both teachers. At the time, I was...
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