Saturday Slumgullion #23

Flea at One Good Thing answers an email with questions about raising a child with obsessive compulsive behavior. Scroll down to the "December" heading for just this part if you must.

An old post by Chris Clarke at Creek Running North on "Wheelchair Invisibility":

I got Herb situated at the section where his chair could slide underneath, and we chatted for a while until the bright college kid waiter came to take our order.

Twenty bucks says that any disabled folks reading this know exactly what happened next.

What part of "Nothing About Us Without Us" don't they understand? Kicking the gimp off the panel in Camden, UK.

A Scottish charity launches ad campaign comparing folks with Down Syndrome to pets. Their rationale seems to be that since more Britons give to animal charities than charities for the disabled, this will prick people's consciences. Or something.

In Sydney, Australia, "Have Wheels, Will Travel. It's a Joke."

A story of disability and marriage in Nigeria. Cringe-worthy English and attitude here, but hey, a detailed story of living with a disability in Nigeria:

Mr. Pam narrated that after the accident, there were various forms of challenges especially from his parents and few friends who saw no reason in marrying a lady that could not make use of her legs, adding that his insistence to forge ahead with the relationship was followed by denial and rejection from his family and some friends.

Pam stated that after the accident, he always realised that she could not use her legs anytime because she could no more escort him as she used to do, stressing that in spite of the unfortunate situation, nothing changed concerning her character and attitude towards him.

Performer Claire Cunningham on her dancing and artist's philosophy:

"The idea I put forward was about finding a performance style that used the abilities created by my disability - the upper body strength I have as a result of using crutches. To me that meant exploring aerial techniques, because, like with my crutches, I'd be bearing my weight on my arms. I thought I would concentrate on using equipment like ropes, slings or maybe trapeze. See if there were ways to make my crutches part of that equipment. Maybe devise a performance piece. And in the process, through Waterbaby - the company I've formed with my colleague Linda Payne - perhaps create movement training programmes for physically disabled individuals."

"For every fatality in Iraq, there are 16 injuries." An op-ed on the war from the Hartford Courant.

New Jersey may remove ableist language from state constitution. The language in question was added by amendment in 1844: "No idiot or insane person shall enjoy the right of suffrage."

A special ed student is told by his school principal that he can't compete in a spelling bee because he doesn't "have the brains":

The controversy at the East Flatbush school began in December when Lamarre, who won his class spelling bee, was declared the school's winner after no other class held a competition.

Lamarre got a laminated "school champion" certificate, but he says that later that day, Brown told him he couldn't move to the next level because he was in special education classes.