My name is Kay Olson, though most people in the blogworld know me as Blue. Or Blue Lily, or back at the Ms. Boards before they imploded I was Blue Girl. Amp has asked me to guest blog for a month and I’m thrilled to be a contributor here. My blog is The Gimp Parade, which has been linked to occasionally here.
It’s a single issue blog about disability from a disability rights perspective, but since disability issues are as diverse as topics that relate to feminism there’s a healthy bit of variation to what I write about, I hope. I do like to look at books and movies from a disability studies perspective, and most recently I’ve been sharing my personal adventures with the health care system and Medicare politics. I look forward to discussing all these things with Alas readers and learning what I can from this much larger and more talkative audience.
Check out my blogroll if disability issues interest you. There’s been an explosion of disability bloggers in the past year or two and I’m just one of the squeaky wheels. For example, there are dozens of bloggers with autism representing themselves and their ways of thinking not just from a disability rights perspective, but as a unique cultural experience too.
Anyway, thanks, Amp, for the invite! I hope what I write about is of interest here.
I am really delighted to see that disability blogs exist. Does this include mental illness
(I am a schizophrenic – stabilized on medication). I also have a doctoral degree in
Physiology and two years of medical school.
I have to admit I’m not very knowledgeable about mental illness blogs. I’ve known at least two that were deleted because of privacy concerns. And many of the autism blogs deal with mental illness issues because of how autism is medicalized and “treated.” I’ve seen some bipolar blogs in passing, but I’d have to search them out again. Mindfreedom.org and schizophrenia.com are not blogs, but both have extensive links that include personal sites. And bazelon.org is a good general site for mental health law issues. Also, I know there are quite a few psychiatrists and psychologists blogging, but I don’t know what approach they take since I rarely find my way to them.
I am familiar with all the websites you mention (bazelon.org has even represented me in
the past). I have never tried to hide the fact that I am mentally ill. Do you welcome the
mentally ill at your blog?
I welcome anyone who cares to visit, so yes, absolutely.
Well, except spammers or trolls, of course.
I don’t know what a troll is. I am too new to the internet (broadband only four years).
I do know what spam is. A major difference I do have with mindfreedom and bazelon is
that I do support assisted treatment – but for the reasons that the National Alliance for
the Mentally Ill support it (49/50 state branches) and not psychlaws. NAMI has to deal
with mentally ill family members 24/7 but psychlaws sensationalizes violence and the
incidence of violence and mental illness is no greater that the general public incidence
of violence from justice department statistics.
I did a Google search on schizophrenia + blog and came across several blogs on schizophrenia,
two of which were associated with schizophrenia.com.
Can you tell me quickly what a troll is? Then I will shut up.
No need for you to shut up!
From Wikipedia :
Obviously, no one here is suggesting that you’re a troll. “Alas” is relatively troll-free, happily.
My favorite blog dealing mainly with mental illness is the Trouble with Spikol, by Philadelphia journalist Liz Spikol — she’s fierce, she’s funny, she’s honest, and she posts a lot. Always worth the click.
http://trouble.philadelphiaweekly.com/