Category Archives: Disabled Rights & Issues

Three Updates on the Gallaudet University Story

1) Angela McCaskill, the suspended Gallaudet University Diversity Officer at the heart of this story, is being used in an anti-same-sex marriage TV ad. According to CBS news, “McCaskill’s attorney says his client would like the ad to stop running,” … Continue reading

Posted in Disabled Rights & Issues, In the news, Same-Sex Marriage | Comments Off  

Know-Nothing Ablebodied People Suspect Disability Is A Scam

The CBS headline says it all: “Scammers Using Wheelchairs To Skip Airport Lines Legally.” “When [travelers] see that the line is so long, they just ask for a wheelchair,” Evelyn Danquah, an attendant for Delta Air Lines, told the Times. … Continue reading

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Health care and non-compete agreements

[Written by Kay Olson, and crossposted from The Gimp Parade with Kay’s kind permission]. Two years ago this week I got caught up in a legal dispute that briefly threatened my life. Obviously, I’m still alive, but a version of … Continue reading

Posted in Disabled Rights & Issues, Health Care and Related Issues | Comments Off  

Fair is fair: Kindergarten and the American Dream

Kindergarten showcases many basic principles which most of us learn there or at our parents’ knees:  take turns, share the toys, fair is fair, and so on.  Later on, “fair is fair” gets refined in many ways, one of which … Continue reading

Posted in Class, poverty, labor, & related issues, Conservative zaniness, right-wingers, etc., Disabled Rights & Issues, Education, Elections and politics, Social Security, Uncategorized | Comments Off  

Deconstructing Sheri Tepper’s 2008 Interview with Strange Horizons

So, someone asked me what was so offensive about Tepper’s interview. After reading her comments, I’m convinced that it might actually be helpful to some people if I did a deconstruction. I don’t usually fisk things because it’s a format … Continue reading

Posted in Abortion & reproductive rights, Class, poverty, labor, & related issues, Disabled Rights & Issues, Environmental issues, Feminism, sexism, etc, International issues, Islamaphobia, literature, Race, racism and related issues | Comments Off  

Those damn, hypersensitive minorities

A letter from 1943 about hypersensitive black people: We feel you may be inviting trouble if you use colored characters in the comic at this time. Experience has shown us that we have to be awfully careful about any comics … Continue reading

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Microaggressions

My wife pointed me to an excellent, if infuriating, blog last night, and I was up until 2 AM reading through it. Microaggressions is a blog about the little daily fuck-yous that populate the world if your race, gender, ethnicity, … Continue reading

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Class, poverty, labor, & related issues, Colonialism, crossposted on TADA, Disabled Rights & Issues, Fat, fat and more fat, Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans and Queer issues, Links, Race, racism and related issues, Whatever | Comments Off  

The Race and Class of Schizophrenia

Back in January, Nojojojo made a post on her livejournal that I found insightful. I asked her for permission to share it with Alas readers which she granted–and I apologize for not getting to it before now. Nojojojo quotes Melissa … Continue reading

Posted in Disabled Rights & Issues, Feminism, sexism, etc, Race, racism and related issues | Comments Off  

Happy New Year!

So it’s the time of New Year’s resolutions (and if you live in Wellington grumbling about the weather).* The newspapers didn’t have much copy over the last couple of weeks, so they were full of: “50 ways to be healthier … Continue reading

Posted in Disabled Rights & Issues, Fat, fat and more fat | Comments Off  

Ableism in Workshop Advice: "There are Worse Things Than Death…"

There’s something that gets bandied about a lot in workshops when people are talking to newbies. “You don’t have to kill your characters to up the stakes,” they say. “There are worse things that can happen to people than death.” … Continue reading

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