Category: disability
Nobody like that here, no
On disability forums, you sometimes see thread titles that just make you want to shake your head:
Any paras date another para?
Are there any wheelchair moms?
Do any wheelchair users have jobs?
My first reaction is to say, no, never - nobody’s dating, nobody’s raising kids, nobody’s got a job. That’s for regular people. Don’t you know we [...]
A.G. is in the house
I’m two months late noticing, but The Angry Gimp is back and blogging. Good deal.
Karen Stone
I was dismayed to read of the death of Karen Stone in this month’s New Mobility (and surprised that I hadn’t heard already).
Karen Stone, who used illness and writing to teach, dead at 62:
“She wrote about it (having a disability). It was a big thing when she was writing. She wrote about it as a [...]
username: FAUST
Harvard local offers “Faust” as disabled woman:
Working with Denver’s handicapped theater company PHAMALy changed Charlie Miller’s life from the day he first volunteered in 2003. Assisting special-needs actor Aaron Rendoff backstage. Helping blind thesp Don Mauck apply his makeup.
Now Miller, 22, wants to use those PHAMALy-informed experiences to change the American theater.
Miller, a 2004 Colorado [...]
Camped out in the accessible stall
Monday and Tuesday I was at a huge conference, at a huge conference hotel. Lots of restrooms. Every restroom had lots of stalls (but only 1 accessible one).
This was a physics/optics sort of conference, which meant that the male:female ratio was about 60:1. Not much contention for the female facilities.
It seemed like every time I [...]
Film trains screeners on assisting disabled
For the past two weeks, a film crew has been making a training video at DIA to teach TSA employees nationwide the proper techniques for screening disabled travelers and their medical equipment.
The video crew filmed about 40 “scenarios” covering all categories of disabilities — mobility, hearing, visual and “hidden,” which includes travelers’ heart disease and [...]
It’s not really a scooter
I’ve now seen three stories about Senator Tim Johnson’s re-election bid. They’re all very similar. They all have a picture of Senator Johnson in what is clearly a power chair, and they all say that it is a scooter. I guess “scooter” telegraphs less disability than “power chair” or “wheelchair”.
The stories:
USA Today, A year after [...]
20 Things to do with the Retrieve Command
I’ve got to teach my dog to retrieve. Check out this list of potential service dog tasks!
RETRIEVE BASED TASKS
* Bring portable phone to any room in house
* Bring in groceries - up to ten canvas bags
* Unload suitable grocery items from canvas sacks
[...]
Indian government may allow guide dogs to fly
Notice the “may”. So far to go.
Following a number of incidents that showed how uncaring some domestic airlines are towards the physically challenged, the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) is working on new rules to facilitate travel of such passengers that may come into effect from as early as January 1, 2008.
If airlines [...]
National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week
Lisa Copen of Rest Ministries has written to let me know that it is National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week. You can find an awareness video, chat seminars and more at Rest Ministries’ National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week site.
Getting Old’s a Bitch
I’m getting out of the car at the grocery store. An elderly lady, leaning on her shopping cart on her way to her car, stops to watch me put the wheelchair together. “Isn’t that amazing?” she says.
“Yup,” I say.
She tells me about her spinal stenosis. And her bad balance. And how she hates to use [...]
Beijing Paralympics to help China’s disabled
From the Guardian:
“We believe that the Paralympics will enhance the international influence of China’s disabled people and give them more self-esteem as well as make them more confident and self-sufficient,” Tang Xiaoquan, executive vice president of Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), told a news conference.
Beijing Paralympics to help China’s disabled
Mother Goose and Grimm
Seeing Eye dog jokes?. Unimaginative, and not funny.
Not disabled?
In a general interest forum recently, a person posted his dissatisfaction with a customer service experience. He believed that the customer service agent had made a particular decision because he (the poster) was deaf. His post was moved into the disability sub-forum. He was offended:
While I (respectfully) understand why you had to move my thread, [...]
A Grab Bag of Links
While I was gone, a number of emails arrived asking me for links, and I’m happy to oblige:
disapedia.com is a new-ish wiki for the disability community. Unlike most blogs, a wiki is a collaborative website that relies on multiple contributors.
Matt Schneider’s blog is full of information on adaptive equipment for quads, inter alia.
Hesperion are promoting [...]
Like Schumacher, after the bus
Christiane vs the bus:
It was the White City stop, the same story as yesterday. I’m waiting in full sight at the bus stop, holding my hand out towards the street, clearly signalling to the driver that I want to get on. And just like yesterday, the driver leaves me standing there.
I practically exploded with anger. [...]
Roger Ebert tells it like it is
Via The 19th Floor, movie critic Roger Ebert:
I have received a lot of advice that I should not attend the festival. I’m told that paparazzi will take unflattering pictures, people will be unkind, etc.
…
I was told photos of me in this condition would attract the gossip papers. So what?
I have been very sick, am [...]
Stairs in the News
A new stair-climbing wheelchair: TopChair.
Topchair is a brand new powered wheelchair (and concept) that enables its drivers to easily be able to climb and descend stairs, steps and other obstacles - all of this in addition to having similar performance to an industry leading powered wheelchair on the road or at home.
(http://marketplace.sibaya.com/2007/05/18/topchair-stair-climbing-wheelchair-ready-for-commercialization/)
From Wheelchair Diffusion, a [...]
Stand-by, just like a regular person!
I had an exciting experience this week at ABQ (why yes, I do lead an otherwise a boring life …).
After a long, difficult 2 week business trip I was scheduled to take the United 7:06 flight from ABQ to DEN. I had slept very little the previous 2 days, and wound up at the airport [...]
Texas Sovereignty
Apparently Texas considers itself above the ADA, but Texas lawmakers Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa and Rep. Mark Strama are trying to fix that:
Borel and Todd: It’s time for the Legislature to end discrimination against the disabled
Texas could lose immunity from ADA lawsuits soon if bill passes
Marathon biker stops in county
Thanks to Ruth at Wheelie Catholic [...]
Clueless in Newark
Continuing our New Jersey theme, here’s Damon’s account of Newark airport’s version of assistance for the visually impaired:
Interestingly my girlfriend, who is also visually impaired, was allowed to follow the man while he took me first to a toilet (where I jumped out of the chair and left him) then to the baggage collection area [...]
Finding a Way to Stay on the Go
Finding a Way to Stay on the Go
For employees facing a condition that affects their ability to travel, Professor Hoffman suggests approaching a manager or company representative with suggestions on how the injury or illness could be accommodated, like rescheduling a trip or booking a direct flight instead of one with a connection.
“The first step [...]
The best parking spaces
Edited: I screwed up by not being diligent in finding the original source of this cartoon (removed because I did not get permission to use it). It’s by Mark Parisi, and can be seen at Off the Mark and CafePress.
Crip Etiquette
I’m in Albuquerque for a mission operations rehearsal.
I’ve got about an hour and a half before I go on duty, so I go to the Starbucks near the base, get myself a latte, and settle down in an armchair to read for a little while.
In a bit I look up and see two women, one [...]
The Re-Education of Michael Graves
John Hockenberry interviews Michael Graves:
When I visit Graves again one steamy morning last summer, he is confined to his bed due to a prolonged bedsore, under strict medical orders to heal it by staying down and out of his wheelchair, so he insists that we speak in his room. A number of chairs are set [...]
Universal Design versus Visitability
Ruth (Wheelie Catholic) has got some discussion going about Universal Design and Visitability.
Universal Design is based on the idea that products and environments should be designed in a way to make them usable by as many people as possible without adaption. It’s a very big (and important) idea. Visitability, on the other hand, is a [...]
Airport and rental car tips
We had family visit for Thanksgiving, including my mother-in-law, who uses a walker after several hip fractures. Her airport adventures with her daughters and their luggage prompt me to jot down a few thoughts.
Even if you don’t drive, if you are disabled, you should get a handicapped parking permit. Most jurisdictions allow you to have [...]
Exercising the franchise
Just a couple of random items from my voting experience:
Paper or plastic?
I have been paying very little attention to the controversy over electronic voting. In Virginia, you went into a curtained booth and toggled little switches on a board till you were happy with your choices, then you pulled a big lever; the machine went [...]
Census data on disabilities
Via Wheelie Catholic:
Americans with Disabilities Act: July 26
Population Distribution
51.2 million
Number of people who have some level of disability. They represent 18 percent of the population.
32.5 million
Number of people with a severe disability. They represent 12 percent of the population.
11%
Percentage of children ages 6 to 14 who have a disability. This amounts to 4 [...]
WCD vs TSA
Personal Responsibility
Lisa on disability, caregiving, and personal responsibility: Could I Have Saved D’s Foot and Other Thoughts About Caregiving:
When D’s family says that they wished he would have found a nice nurse or physical therapist for him to marry, this is what they were hoping for. A woman who would devote her life to managing and [...]
Faking diversity
Fake disabled children, from Blue (normally seen at The Gimp Parade):
A couple weeks ago the Wall Street Journal ran an article about how textbook publishers meet diversity quotas for the photos in their books. The article covers the lengths publishers go to in order to portray diversity in race, ethnicity, religion, age, gender and disability [...]
Don’t park there
A great YouTube find by Caughtya: New Zealand PSA.
German travel resources
I’m planning a trip to Germany in September - here are a few helpful websites I’ve come across recently:
ÖPNV-Info: Mobilitätsportal für behinderte Reisende
(German)
Deutsche Bahn - Mobility for the Disabled: Services for mobility-impaired customers. (English)
Hotel Reservation Service (English - choose Extended Search and then Facilities at hotel and in room, and you can specify a [...]
Customer Service
Christiane on customer service:
How to annoy your customers
Today: Making your customers solve your problems.
The book-trade, as you know, is moaning about competition from the internet. I can certainly understand, I wouldn’t want to be an independent bookseller during the Amazon & Co era. But if I’m looking for a new book, and don’t know exactly [...]
Qantas’ turn
They’re getting riled up and uppity down under!
This is discrimination, Qantas told
THE champion wheelchair racer Louise Sauvage, once the smiling face in Qantas promotions, has turned bitter about what she says is the airline’s “discriminatory” approach to disabled passengers.
Qantas’s confirmation that it limits the number of wheelchairs on each flight comes only days after Virgin [...]
Virgin backs down on wheelchair policy
Excellent! I love a happy ending, don’t you?
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) says it is pleased that Virgin Blue has backed down on a policy change affecting disabled passengers.
The airline says wheelchair passengers will no longer have to travel with a carer at their own expense.
The commissioner responsible for disability discrimination, Graeme [...]
Paralympian takes legal action against Virgin Blue
A wheelchair-bound Paralympian is taking legal action against Virgin Blue over its policy on carrying disabled people.
Paul Nunnari says he was told by Virgin Blue staff that he would need to be accompanied by a carer at his own expense the next time he flies with the airline.
Virgin Blue says people who are not able [...]
Virgin Blue responds
Virgin Blue defends wheelchair policy:
Virgin Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey said the airline was not implementing a new policy for disabled passengers.
But he reaffirmed the airline’s policy that passengers unable to fit themselves with an oxygen mask or look after themselves on board should travel with carers.
…
Mr Godfrey said his staff would continue to assist [...]
More on Virgin Blue
Airline to wheelchair users: pay a carer
Paralympics medalist Paul Munnari, who has propelled himself thousands of kilometres, said airline staff had told him he would have to be accompanied by a carer.
The airline’s spokeswoman, Heather Jeffery, last night said the airline had produced a more detailed policy on special needs passengers or “guests”, to take [...]
Virgin Blue staff will not push wheelchairs
Virgin stands by wheelchair decision
Virgin Blue is defending its new policy on wheelchair passengers, saying it is necessary to protect airline staff from injuries.
From June 1, Virgin Blue staff will not be allowed to push wheelchairs, leaving passengers to operate mandatory airline wheelchairs themselves.
David Craig from Disability Rights Victoria says the policy is part of [...]
EU Policy: Rights of Disabled Persons … When Travelling by Air
Via Rolling Rains, the full English text of the newly ratified EU regulation.
Ratified but not yet published below is the English version of the EU regulations on travel and people with disabilities. The text will be signed June 14 and two weeks later.
The regulation will take effect two years after the publication in the official [...]
Airline Special Service Request (SSR) Codes
5.2.2.1 In order better to adapt services supplied to the needs of PRMs, Member States should encourage airlines, airport authorities and travel agents to use a common definition of different categories of persons needing special assistance. To that end, Member States should refer to the following classification and codification:
1) MEDA Passenger whose mobility is impaired, [...]
By Request
There are a couple of things in the request queue:
Derrick Parkhurst of Iowa State University is looking to publicize his IPRIZE initiative “to create better tools for disabled users to interact with computers. In particular eye movements have been shown to be an effective human computer interaction technique for individuals with motor disabilities.” It looks [...]
Bitch, bitch, bitch
Bitch #1:
An organization I am peripherally involved in recently had a big fundraising event. Prior to the event there were flurries of emails, including this one:
The lot right there is the free lot. It is down hill from the stadium so you will have to wall up the hill and will enter at the [...]
Using technology to provide equal access to the courts
Via Patricia, an article about a lab trial (being held at my alma mater) designed to provide equal courtroom access to persons with disabilities:
“The aging baby boomers will simply intensify the already critical need to assist peoples with special needs when they must go to court or a legal hearing,” Lederer said. “Assistive technology [...]
Thank God it’s only MS
After all, it could be hay fever.
Getting old’s a bitch
My 95 year old cognitively intact mother in law has started down the slippery slope. Three hip fractures in the last year and a half. Moved out of her house into assisted living across the country. Two days ago she fell trying to open the heavy fire door in her facility’s laundry room, and broke [...]
Shut out at the gym?
Via Ruth, Disabled, and Shut Out at the Gym:
Health clubs are among the last public places in the United States to become broadly accessible to the physically disabled, say advocates for people who are blind, deaf or in wheelchairs. Some clubs lack the ramps and wide doors that they are required to provide — like [...]
Misc
Disability Bitch is back, with some schoolin’ for cutesy crips:
Have you seen girls staggering home drunk on a winter night, skirt too short, fishnets torn, mascara smudged, plastic bag wrapped around their ears to keep the rain off? Well, that’s what your mobility aid Christmas décor looks like after a few hours on the town.
My [...]
Can’t take sleep to the bank
I took two weeks off work and slept 10-12 hours every night, but now that I’m back at work, I’ve discovered that you can’t put sleep in the bank. One full workday, and I’m exhausted. Two full workdays, and it’s time to take another two weeks off! Argh.
Second Class Crip
Thanks to my on-going remission (hooray!), I flew last week with only crutches, no wheelchair, and discovered that this made me a second class crip.
Mistake #1: not getting an airport wheelchair. Despite my abhorrence of being pushed, it would have saved a lot of walking and standing around wear and tear.
Mistake #2: not insisting on [...]
Aunt Aggie Ruins Christmas
From Crip Chronicles, Aunt Aggie Ruins Christmas, or Dies in the Attempt:
After it took nearly ten minutes for Aggie to walk — with human and cane assistance — from the living room to the driveway of a fairly small house, I said to Joan, “for $150 she could get a good transport wheelchair that would [...]
Discrimination Down Under
Those antipodean airlines! They just keep coming up with more ways to discriminate:
Qantas to restrict disabled flyers
The Archbishop of York, at least trilingual
Via the Ouch! Weblog:
Dr Sentamu turns his enthronement into a party
When it came to the Peace - which the Archbishop signed for the deaf, as he did all his key pronouncements - that, too, was made joyful by the Luo Dancers and Singers, Mothers’ Union members from Stratford. Dressed in white silk with blue sashes, [...]
CAPTCHA is bad for accessibility
With the exponential rise in Blogger comment spam, a lot of folks have turned on comment verification, even though they know it makes it difficult for blind/low vision/dyslexic folks to post comments.
Roger Johansson provides an entry about the W3C’s analysis of the problems with CAPTCHA. Unfortunately the solutions are enterprise-oriented (individual bloggers, especially those using [...]
Standing’s not going to be a problem, or How I got chucked out of the ticket-selling moms
My daughter’s playing the Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods at high school. I signed up to sell tickets - not generally what I’d consider a labor-intensive job.
Ticket Mom calls me up. We agree on days. We agree on times. Then she says, “Is standing going to be a problem?”
“I use a wheelchair,” I say, [...]
Air travel in Europe
Ryanair, recently in the news due to its policy of charging for the use of wheelchairs, is back with Ryanair is attacked for ejecting blind passengers.
On the plus side, and resulting partially from the Ryanair wheelchair suit, Airport agreement to end discrimination against disabled:
A new agreement ensuring all European Union airports are made fully [...]
Feeling Nervous (and Foolish)
Normally, I try not to do anything that would cause my employer to notice that I might be sick (or, god forbid, disabled). This has led to me doing somewhat foolish things, like working a 40 hour week when totally wiped out by fatigue, or going to work in a raging blizzard when I could [...]
Which of these things is not like the other?
William Rehnquist is the Chief Justice of the United States. He is also a cancer patient, who has been able to continue working with accomodations, which have presumably included time off for chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and the ability to keep his government job at will.
Patricia Garrett is the former Director of OB/GYN/Neonatal Services at [...]
From helpfulness to accident insurance
Christiane Link writes with a wry and informed voice about the barriers she encounters daily. She has given me permission to translate some of her posts into English, so check out From helpfulness to accident insurance:
I went to my branch to cash a check. As I finished, I noticed that there was a crutch on [...]
ADA - 15th Anniversary
Excellent post from tikva in No Pity:
“I am with you. I love you. Lead on.”
New Urbanism
Via Rolling Rains: Eleanor Smith of Concrete Change has some excellent observations on the shortcomings of New Urbanism in an article in the Ragged Edge.
Prospect here in Longmont is an example of New Urbanism. While I applaud breaking out of the cookie cutter developer mold, and rethinking the relationship of the house with its environs, [...]
Flown Recently?
The TSA wants your input on alternative screening.
Via No Pity:
From May 23 through August 23, 2005, TSA will be conducting a Persons with Disabilities and Medical Conditions Customer Satisfaction Survey.
Disability Blogroll
Christiane has posted an excellent Disability Blogroll. While her site is in German, the majority of the blogs listed are in English. Christiane is happy to take additional suggestions.
Good Stuff
Agent Fang’s Life as a Token Crip
Fazia’s links to Duke University report on iPod distribution and the Fog Screen
1. Accessibility and Transportation
Scott at Rolling Rains wants to pick your brain on accessible travel topics. Feel free to leave a comment here, or mail your comments to Scott.
(1) How tourism can bring about greater accessibility of buildings, places of interest and transportation: What models or case studies are available that illustrate a successful harnessing of tourism revenue [...]
2. Reform, Reconstruct and Build the Accessible Tourist Sites
Scott at Rolling Rains wants to pick your brain on accessible travel topics. Feel free to leave a comment here, or mail your comments to Scott.
(1) Inclusive Destination develoment is the systematic application of Universal Design in the planning and development of tourism sites in order to make them destinations of choice for the tourists [...]
3. Accessible Information
Scott at Rolling Rains wants to pick your brain on accessible travel topics. Feel free to leave a comment here, or mail your comments to Scott.
(1) Availability of accessible information in major tourism web sites, both governmental and private: What are the criteria for defining accessibility? What is the procedure for holding each site accountable [...]
4. Human Resources in Accessible Tourism
Scott at Rolling Rains wants to pick your brain on accessible travel topics. Feel free to leave a comment here, or mail your comments to Scott.
(1) Influencing Employers to hire People with Disabilities: Good strategies? Case studies
(2) Lobbying designers, engineers, builders and policy makers to include People with
Disability in Tourism Plans
(3) How to create seamlessly [...]