Rights of Nasty People

Ettina blogs:

Minna Mettinen-Kekalainen, a woman with Asperger Syndrome and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, has finally been given the care she needs, after much protest. She is severely disabled and was cut off from home assistance, only managing to stay alive because her friends were willing to feed her (she needs tube-feeding).
In protest, she started a hunger strike, which she called off in order to stay alive (possibly she figured out that her starving to death wouldn’t bother someone willing to deny her such basic care as tube-feeding and diaper changes).

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What Pisses Me Off About Media Coverage For Disabled People

The Divine Ms. Jimmi blogs:

Things like the special Olympics, Variety Club events, The Cure-A-Crip Telethon or some other fluffy piece about someone trying to overcome their disability (has it worked, are ya not disabled anymore?) gets big press. When people with disabilities take to the streets and say that the system is broken, we don;t want to live in your shitty institutions because the sight of us bothers you or that we want our rights along with choiuces that the mainstream public takes advantage of everyday–suddenly, we’re not so cute and inspirational.

Disability Blog Carnival #36

The 36th edition of the Disability Blog Carnival is up at Abnormaldiversity.

[Hat Tip: Alas, a blog]

Disability Blog Carnival

The December addition of the Disability Blog Carnival is up at Andrea’s Buzzing About:

We all have a number of little things that not only delight us in small ways, but also make life just so much more pleasant, and even help reduce our stress loads. These tend to fall into three categories: technology that enables us to do things, creature comforts, and human interaction. Got your cuppa? Cats and dogs settled down? Then let’s begin!

[Hat Tip: Alas, a blog]

Disabilism: A Disease Embedded Within the Government

Steve Kuusisto blogs about the systematic discrimination of people with disabilities within the government in his blog Planet of the Blind:

Disablism is in my view the organized and determined use of power to prevent people with disabilities from becoming full members of society.

I believe along with tens of thousands of other people who have disabilities that the highest court in our land is guilty of disablism.

Justices like Antonin Scalia believe that people with disabilities should be grateful just to be carried up a flight of stairs when there’s no ramp available in a federal building. You can look it up.

Blog Against Disablism Day

The Goldfish is hosting the second Blog Against Disablism day on May 1st at the blog Diary of a Goldfish:

Everyone is welcome to join in with Blogging Against Disablism day, disabled and non-disabled, as long as you wish to blog against the discrimination that disabled people experience. Last year, I was rather surprised to have questions from people with mental health impairments who wondered whether their experience counted as disability. Of course it does! My one regret was that I initially turned down a person with Body Integrity Identity Disorder (a condition where a person feels the need or desire to acquire a physical impairment, most commonly an amputation or paralysis). As it was, despite my apprehensions, their contribution was entirely in the spirit of Blogging Against Disablism and so they were included in the final list.

If anybody has any access issues, please speak up. I am not an expert in this area. Alternative blogging formats, such a podcasts or video are more than welcome. If you cannot leave a comment on this blog for any reason, please e-mail me (this is temporary e-mail address and will only exist until Blogging Against Disablism is over this year).

Link via Spottedele.