JFActivist

A Life of Quality

From The New York Times (June 12):

A Life of Quality

By LAWRENCE DOWNES

In “Parting the Waters,” his history of the early civil-rights movement, Taylor Branch recounts how a teacher of Gandhian resistance, James Lawson, would tell his students not to curl passively into fetal balls when segregationists came to beat them up. It only made them more brutal.

“This was a way to get livers kicked in and backs broken, he said, recommending that resisters try to maintain eye contact with those beating them.”

I thought of that when I learned of the death of Harriet McBryde Johnson, who looked at the world with an unflinching, sometimes withering, gaze. What many saw when they looked at her was a scrawny woman with a twisted spine who got around with a power wheelchair and lots of help. What she saw was a world that refused to make room for the severely disabled, one that looked at people like her — if it looked at them at all — with horror, hostility, condescension and pity, a sentiment she hated...

...Read more (free registration may be required).

Advocate Responds to Columnist's Criticism of Court's Currency Decision

The following article was written in response to columnist Roy Exum's article from two weeks ago, criticizing a U.S. Court of Appeal's decision that U.S. currency discriminates against blind individuals.

From The Herald News (June 1):

Quit passing the buck; bills simply are noncents

By Valerie Brew-Parrish

Hey Mister Roy Exum, what's in your wallet? Do you see a $5, $10, or how about a $20?

Yep, you don't have to be bothered folding your $1 bills lengthwise or your $5 bills another direction in order to identify the currency.

Your keen sight identifies the money lickety split. Have you ever had an unscrupulous cashier deliberately miscount that hard-earned cash in order to rip you off? If so, you could spot the deception. Well, let me tell you, there is probably not a blind person on this planet that has not, at one time or another, been cheated. Some cashiers even assume blindness is catchy. On too numerous occasions I have watched cashiers count out bills to my husband, who is blind, by intentionally telling him the wrong denominations. It is infuriating.

So Mr. Exum, in your column titled "Enough is Enough," written for the Chattanoogan.com, lamenting the May 20 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals to redesign the U.S. currency to be accessible to the blind, smacks of bigotry...

...Read more.

A Voice of Disability from Africa, Part 1

Jenifer Simpson, AAPD's Sr. Director, Telecommunications & Technology Policy, recently returned from a trip to Africa in conjunction with work she is doing with the United Nations on the technology accessibility provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Jenifer met many advocates from the African continent during her travels, and several intend to share their stories, in their own words, here on the blog.

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A Voice of Disability from Africa


Guest Column
By Moses Gonsi

I am Moses from Nigeria. Here is my disability story:

I am Moses Gonsi, born on the 3rd of April, 1973. I come from Lewe Town in Gokana, a local government area of Rivers state, Nigeria.

Born deformed, I  was put in a basket and abandoned in a place called the Forbidden Forest in my village by my father, who was amongst the people that stood strong in ensuring that an age-long tradition of killing deformed and twin babies was respected.

So I was kept in the forest where ants moved around the basket but the mystery was that they never got inside. I was exposed to the harsh conditions of the weather and other things for several days but remained alive and unhurt until I was picked up by a hunter. He then handed me over to a nurse that took care of me, and later to a chief, who in turn brought me to Port Harcourt Cheshire Home, where I reside till date.

My guardian, his royal majesty, late king (Justice) Ambros E. Allagoa (King of Nembe Kingdom) till his death and his wife left no stone unturned in giving me a formal education. I had my nursery education at Fatima Nursery School, Port Harcourt.  Thereafter, I proceeded to St. John’s State School, later to Baptist High School, all in Port Harcourt, where I obtained my senior school certificate.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get admission into a higher institution yet.

Though disabled I acknowledge the fact that there is ability in disability. I went into a small-scale poultry farming enterprise at the home where I am now residing. I am of the Anglican faithful and totally into Gospel music.  I love singing, planting and growing flowers, traveling and engaging in activities that will improve the problems of humanity.

I have been to London with the opportunity given to me by the late king (Justice) Ambrose E. Allagoa and Leonard Cheshire Foundation International. I strongly believe there are potentials God has embedded in everyone, disabled or not. If given necessary support to unveil my potentials, the heaven will be my limit. Thank you and God bless you.

~Moses Gonsi
Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Remembering Harriet McBryde Johnson

From The Post and Courier (June 4):

Attorney, activist Harriet McBryde Johnson dead at age 50

By Prentiss Findlay
 
Harriet McBryde Johnson, a well-known Charleston disability and civil rights attorney, died Wednesday.

"She worked yesterday. It's a shock to everybody," said friend and attorney Susan Dunn.

She was born July 8, 1957, and had been a Charleston resident since age 10.

She told The Post and Courier that she became an attorney because her disability-rights work had taught her something about the impact of law on how people live....

...Read the rest of the obituary.

Activists Rally for Change in Wake of Abuse and Murder of Dorothy Dixon

From The Telegraph (May 31):

March rallies support for disabled
By STEPHANIE KISZCZAK

ALTON - They caused quite a scene marching down East Broadway early Saturday afternoon.

Some were on foot, in wheelchairs, in vehicles or on motorcycles, with police cars at the front and back of the line. They proudly displayed signs and chanted as they journeyed up the hills of Sering Avenue.

"What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!" they yelled.

People along the way stood at their front doors to watch the commotion, while others peeked out of windows. Motorists honked in support and others pulled off to the side of the road to watch.

The group of nearly 30 people had gathered to honor 29-year-old Dorothy Latrice Dixon, who died from her injuries after being shot with a pellet gun, beaten and scalded over several weeks' time. She died in January. Dixon, who had moved to Alton from Quincy, Ill., was six months pregnant and developmentally disabled...

...Read more.

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• Read F.R.I.D.A.'s blog posting about their trip to Alton for the Dorothy Dixon Memorial
• More on F.R.I.D.A. (Feminist Response in Disability Activism)
  

Advocates Outraged by Bejing Olympics Guide that Refers to Disabled as Stubborn, Unsocial, and Defensive

Excerpts from the Times Online (from the UK) (May 27):

Disabled groups outraged by Beijing snub

By Ashling O’Connor, Olympics Correspondent

Disabled groups reacted with outrage yesterday to an official guide for assistants at the Beijing Olympic Games that describes them as unsocial, stubborn and defensive...

...The section of the manual entitled “Skills for helping the disabled” goes on to say: “Some physically disabled are isolated, unsocial, and introspective. They can be stubborn and controlling . . . defensive and have a strong sense of inferiority.

“Sometimes they are overly protective of themselves, especially when they are called crippled or paralysed. Do not use ‘cripple’ or ‘lame’ even if you are just joking.”

The guide, distributed to 100,000 volunteers before the Olympics in August and the Paralympics in September, sparked outrage in among disabled groups...

...Read more.

Woman in iron lung dies during power outage

From the Los Angeles Times (May 29):

Woman in iron lung dies during power outage
By Jenny Jarvie

ATLANTA -- For the first time in more than half a century, the Odell residence is quiet.

There are no squeaks and pops from the electric motor that powered an "iron lung" pumping air in and out of Dianne Odell's body.

A thunderstorm knocked out the power to her home Wednesday, shutting off the massive metal machine that had helped her breathe for nearly 60 years.

It was about 3 a.m. when the electricity went out at Odell's home in Jackson, a small Tennessee town about 90 miles northeast of Memphis. An emergency generator did not start, and Odell died as her father and brother-in-law took turns pumping the iron lung manually...

...Read more.

Gov. David Paterson: I was ashamed to be blind

From the Daily News (May 29):

Gov. David Paterson: I was ashamed to be blind
BY KENNETH LOVETT

Gov. Paterson said he tried to hide his blindness when he was younger (below) and admitted that not until recently has he grown more comfortable with his disability.

ALBANY - Gov. Paterson, New York's first legally blind governor, admitted Wednesday he didn't become fully comfortable with his disability until the last few years.

In his first expansive comments on his visual impairment since becoming governor on March 17, Paterson detailed the ways he sought to hide his blindness over the years.

While growing up in a tough Hempstead neighborhood, he said he rejected a cane or seeing eye dog for fear of being beaten up...

...Read more.

"The Autism Rights Movement"

Excerpts from New York Magazine (May 25):

The Autism Rights Movement
A new wave of activists wants to celebrate atypical brain function as a positive identity, not a disability. Opponents call them dangerously deluded.

By Andrew Solomon

On December 1, the NYU Child Study Center came out with advertisements in the form of ransom notes. One said, “We have your son. We will make sure he will not be able to care for himself or interact socially as long as he lives. This is only the beginning.” It was signed “Autism.” Another said, “We have your son. We are destroying his ability for social interaction and driving him into a life of complete isolation. It’s up to you now,” and was signed “Asperger Syndrome.” Harold Koplewicz, director of the center, hoped the ads would propel undiagnosed children toward competent professionals. But they repelled and upset a subset of the very population they were meant to assist: people with autism-spectrum disorders.

Autism activists spearheaded a huge protest. The chief organizer was 20-year-old Ari Ne’eman, who has an Asperger’s (autism without speech delay) diagnosis...

.... Less than three weeks after they appeared, the ads were pulled. It was a signal triumph for the neurodiversity movement, the self-chosen name for the autism-rights brigade...

...Read more.

U.S. Court Rules Paper Money Discriminates Against Blind

From The Chicago Tribune (May 21):

Excerpts from:

Blind victory may change feel of cash
Is it $1 or $20? Fingers can't tell. But a federal ruling paves the way for different sizes or other clues

By Monique Garcia

...The judges found that because different denominations of paper money are indistinguishable by touch, the government is discriminating against blind people. The decision could force the Treasury Department to make significant changes to currency, such as printing different-sized bills for different amounts or giving them raised markings.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued the 2-1 ruling in a lawsuit by the American Council of the Blind. The government has been fighting the case for about six years and could appeal the ruling. Officials said Tuesday they were reviewing the decision...

...Read more.