JFActivist

British Show Features Eight Disabled Women Competing to Be Models

Britian's Missing Top Model - Eight young disabled women discover what it takes to be a model while competing for a photo shoot and appearance in a top fashion magazine. (More).

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.

"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.

Columnist: Court decision for blind re: currency goes too far

Columnist Roy Exum for the Chattanoogan (TN) wrote today that the court ruling referenced above, which could force the Treasury Department to make major changes to currency in the United States, is "ludicrous."

Exum writes:

...The ruling, in my mind, is ludicrous. Understand, I am a huge advocate of those who are disabled, handicapped, challenged or any other word you care to use. But while I am sorry for anyone who must shoulder an additional burden, I am also so tired of the stupid stuff we do at the frivolous expense of the vast majority.

I believe I could make a case that electric extension cords, sleeping cats and toilet seats that are left counter to the next person’s needs are also, in the legal sense, detrimental to the blind, but, my goodness, enough is enough...

...Read his entire column.

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REACT!

• Tell Roy Exum what you think of his column.
• Tell the Chattanoogan what you think by writing a letter to the editor.

Billboard Alert!

The billboard depicted here (which reads, "Think seatbelts are confining? Try a wheelchair. Buckle up") was erected by the Ravalli County DUI Task Force in Montana. The Task Force reports to the Ravalli County Board of Commissioners.

We are told that in general, the Task Force does good work, however, this billboard demonstrates that they could take stand some lessons on disability culture and etiquette.

REACT!

Advocates interested in sharing their opinions can do so in a number of ways:

• Email the commissioner of Ravalli County and tell him that while perhaps well-intended, the billboard is an insult to people with disabilities.
• Write a letter to the editor of the local newspapers. Send letters to the Ravalli Republic  Managing Editor, Perry Backus and to Missoulian using their online form.
• Post a reaction on the JFActivist blog.

Have you seen or heard an ad lately that you find shocking? Share it with the JFA Moderator.

"Mad Pride" Fights Stigma around Psychiatric Disabilities

From The New York Times (May 11):

‘Mad Pride’ Fights a Stigma
By GABRIELLE GLASER

IN the YouTube video, Liz Spikol is smiling and animated, the light glinting off her large hoop earrings. Deadpan, she holds up a diaper. It is not, she explains, a hygienic item for a giantess, but rather a prop to illustrate how much control people lose when they undergo electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, as she did 12 years ago.

In other videos and blog postings, Ms. Spikol, a 39-year-old writer in Philadelphia who has bipolar disorder, describes a period of psychosis so severe she jumped out of her mother’s car and ran away like a scared dog.

In lectures across the country, Elyn Saks, a law professor and associate dean at the University of Southern California, recounts the florid visions she has experienced during her lifelong battle with schizophrenia...

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

Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People List Features Disability Linkages

Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential list includes a number of disability linkages....

Oscar Pistorius, a South African double amputee Paralympian athlete who runs on carbon blades, is challenging the rules of the Olympics in hopes to compete in Beijing.

Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist and professor at Indiana University School of Medicine, studied her own stroke to speak powerfully about recovery.

Lance Armstrong, a seven-time winner of the Tour de France and a cancer survivor

 

Adult with Autism Debunks Myths during Autism Awareness Month

The following guest column appeared in The Advocate-Messenger (Danville, KY) last week and was written by a student with autism in support of neurodiversity and autism acceptance. It is powerful self-advocacy, and I hope you'll take the time to read the entire piece.

For those so inclined, email the newspaper that printed this piece and tell them you appreciate The Advocate-Messenger's decision to publish a piece during Autism Awareness Month from the perspective of someone with autism. Letters to the newspaper can be sent to letters@amnews.com. 

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From The Advocate-Messenger (April 9):

Guest Column: Autistic need support, not pity
By LIZZY MILLER
lizzy.miller@centre.edu

T.S. Eliot was right: April is the cruelest month.

So maybe the lilacs haven't bloomed yet, and maybe any dead land in the area has turned into mud by now, but the principle is the same: April is one of the most unintentionally cruel months of the 12.

It's Autism Awareness Month.

I, for one, am acutely aware of autism, and I don't need a special month to think about it, because I am autistic.

I am one of the autistic adults that the president of Autism Speaks - an "organization" that despite its name doesn't employ autistic people or allow their input - swears up and down don't exist...

...Read more.

Condoleeza Rice: U.S. Has "Birth Defect" About Race

What do you think?

Is this offensive or as one commenter said, what many would term "politically correct minutiae"?? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

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From National Public Radio's News Blog (March 28):

Sec. of State Rice: U.S. Has "Birth Defect" About Race

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said Thursday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied blacks the same opportunities as whites when the country was founded.

"Black Americans were a founding population," she said. "Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together -- Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That's not a very pretty reality of our founding."

As a result, Miss Rice told editors and reporters at The Washington Times, "descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that. That particular birth defect makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today," she said.

On the one hand, she told the Times, race in the U.S. "continues to have effects" on public discussions and "the deepest thoughts that people hold." On the other, "enormous progress" has been made, which allowed her to become the nation's chief diplomat.

"What I would like understood as a black American is that black Americans loved and had faith in this country even when this country didn't love and have faith in them -- and that's our legacy," she said.

Hollywood's doors opening for actors with disabilities

Hollywood's doors opening for actors with disabilities (Los Angeles Times, April 7)
NICK DALEY, 28, has Prader-Willi Syndrome, a genetic disorder characterized by short stature, low muscle tone and mild retardation. He's also been in 17 films and 11 television shows, including a guest-starring role in last season's TNT series "Saving Grace."

"If I were a star, I would be on all over the world," he says. "I would be mobbed by fans. People would see my name and get my autograph."

Blair Williamson, 28, is an actor with Down syndrome. He has been in clothing commercials for Macy's, was once murdered in a "CSI" episode and had a nose job on a "Nip/Tuck" episode...

...Read more.