Back again, but this time here to stay

My introduction at Alas, A Blog:

Hi all. My name is Kay Olson (known in the past and in the archives here as Blue or Blue Lily) and I write over at The Gimp Parade about disability. I blogged here as a guest last year, but Amp has asked me to join Alas as a regular co-blogger and I'm thrilled to be here.

A little about me: I'm a 39-year-old Minnesotan. I live in the small rural town I was born in, though I went to high school in Naperville, Illinois, and got several college degrees at Arizona State during my 13 years living in Tempe. My degrees are in English, political science and public administration and wherever possible in my studies I explored minority or diversity issues -- when disability wasn't an available option, I studied race or gender or any intersection of these identities.

I was born with a rare progressive neuromuscular condition that falls under the umbrella of muscular dystrophies. I've used a wheelchair or scooter for all mobility since 1983 when I was in ninth grade, and for the past two years I've had a feeding tube, a trach and used a ventilator full-time for breathing. Technically, I am unemployed, but I spend much of each day with people employed to help me 24/7, training them, managing their care of my needs, helping with scheduling, medical supplies, etc. I am a source of income for two full-time LPNs and up to five part-time LPNs and RNs, not counting the agency I must go through for their state-paid assistance. I live with my parents in a house they were able to build with full accessibility in mind, though I very nearly ended up in a scary nursing home less than two years ago. As you might imagine, if you haven't already visited my blog, I write a lot about my experiences with the medical community and how they are shaped by politics, bureaucracy and disability stereotypes and prejudice.

My hope here at Alas, other than writing coherently on a regular basis and learning from discussions, will be to bring current disability issues to a wider audience, put them into a feminist context when possible, and promote the writing of other disabled folks online. Mandolin's lovely October post, "Feminism is not your expectation," linked my blog as the sole example of disability in feminism but there's an incredible variety of disabled feminist bloggers out there I'd love to see recognized.

So, although I don't know if all these bloggers proudly identify as feminists, here is a list of some great disability bloggers that often speak to issues of feminism as well. Although this particular list doesn't include any non-Western disabled bloggers and very few disabled male bloggers (the latter are either less likely to be making connections between being a woman and disabled, or I am less apt at seeing the connections they make), it is otherwise fairly diverse with regard to age, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and disability:

Ballastexistenz
Big Noise
Biodiverse Resistance
Diary of a Goldfish
Disability Culture Watch
FRIDA (Feminist Response in Disability Activism)
Ms. Crip Chick
Moving Right Along
My Private Casbah
Pilgrim Steps
Retired Waif
Screw Bronze!
Wheelchair Dancer
Writhe Safely

Thanks for having me, Amp.