Friday, November 19, 2004
Suggested Readings/Viewings in Disability Studies
BOOKS ü No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement by Joseph Shapiro. Times Books, 1993. Perfect introduction. ü The ABC Clio Companion to the Disability Rights Movement by Fred Pelka. ABC-CLIO Press, 1997. Dictionary of terms, people, events and more. ü Beyond Ramps: Disability at the End of the Social Contract by Marta Russell. Common Courage Press, 1998. A more advanced, theoretically based study. ü The Week the World Heard Gallaudet by Jack R. Gannon. Gallaudet...
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Monday, October 18, 2004
In Memoriam: Christopher Reeve (1952-2004)
Columnist’s Note: I learned of Christopher Reeve’s October 10 th passing via an October 11 th e-mail from a fellow science fiction writer. I didn’t want to write a eulogy for him until I knew what I wanted to say. But my relationship to Chris is so complicated that if I waited to figure it all out, this post would never get written. Christopher Reeve- actor, director, father, husband, disabled person, and always (to me anyway) Superman- died eight days ago at the age of 52. Paralyzed nine years...
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Thursday, October 7, 2004
Seeing Axis (a happy column finally!)
Tonight, instead spending the evening with my computer and the TV or toiling in Mary Frances house, I put on a “going out outfit” (neat crimson sweater, black turtleneck, black velvet pants, black socks and shoes) and joined a group going to see Axis Dance Company at the UMass Fine Arts Center (one of the premier integrated dance companies- meaning containing dancers with various disabilities and dancers who are non-disabled- in the country), which is based in Oakland, CA. It was amazing to see...
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Friday, September 24, 2004
In Memoriam: Mary Frances Platt
On September 15 th, Mary Frances Platt (my friend, mentor, and fellow disability rights activist) died, but I was unaware of her passing until a few hours ago. We lived within a mile of each other and shared a wonderful, yet complicated, relationship, but hadn’t seen each other in a few months. With a presence twice the size of her 400 pound body and a temper to match her (now graying) red hair, Mary Frances took crap from no one, including me. In fact, the 50 year old sometimes acted (or wanted...
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Monday, September 20, 2004
In Memoriam: Mattie Stepanek (1990-2003)
Obsessed, I suppose, with my own illness, recovery, and activities, I failed to realize that poet, peacemaker, and advocate Mattie Stepanek passed from the world this summer until I saw a tribute on Oprah today. Mere weeks away from his 14 th birthday when he died on June 22nd, Mattie was a lively, active, opinionated young man with a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy. In his short life, Mattie authored several books, appeared on the Oprah Show, met former President Jimmy Carter, and was a three...
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Sunday, September 19, 2004
Report on the 1st Annual American with Disabilities Convention
I left for the First Annual Americans with Disabilities Convention at around 3:30 East Coast time Friday, with Megan ( an emergency last minute fill in PCA ) in tow. Since we’d missed the train, I’d canceled the van, and we both wanted to come back as early as possible, we opted to take her car. Since my power chair couldn’t fit in the car ( it doesn’t fold ), I had to take the manual wheelchair that I used in Japan because my regular manual chair is unpadded and uncomfortable, plus it doesn’t...
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Sunday, September 12, 2004
Canada Wrap-up
I woke up yesterday at 6:00 AM and didn’t get to bed until 1:30 AM this morning. First, we forgot Diakwe’s bag at the hotel. Then we were put on a flight that was one hour later than were told it was. Then we missed our connection because people couldn’t get me off the plane in a timely fashion. Daikwe almost caused an international incident by jumping off the plane to change our flight without going through customs, but I stopped her in time. Then we stood in line for hours waiting to be...
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Friday, September 10, 2004
Greetings fron Canada: Installment 3
The last day of the conference was happy and sad at once. It's good to be going home but I'll miss all my new and old friends as well as just being around disabiled people in general, because there's not a lot of community in Massachesetts. Nadina says Alexander is mad at me because I didn't write him a goodbye note, but I left his apartment thinking his wife thought we were having an affair. So I didn't want to make that any worse. I guess I'll do some ego stroking when I get back to NYC...
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Thursday, September 9, 2004
Grettings from Canada- Installment 2
Today was a busy day full of workshops and learning. I don't think I can learn anymore or my brain will explode. The first thing I did this morning was sit for 2 hours learning all about how a UN convention is formulated. I learned that UN conventions are actually binding if a country ratifies it, which I didn't know. And that there could be a disability convention as soon as Fall 2005. There were some arguments on whether to include a special article on women, but no real conclusion was...
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Wednesday, September 8, 2004
Greetings from Canada Installment 1
Hello from Canada where I actually made it through the border. This is my third day in Canada. Two days ago I arrived with my last minute PCA, Daikwe, who is very nice. I couldn't even get out of the airport without having a diaster. My on/off switch for my chair broke, and they barely let me on the plane because my chair wouldn't turn off. And that's apparently a safety violation. The white guy who was in charge of the process was a real blowhard and wanted the plane to leave without me, but...
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