Blogging Against Disablism: Hope

The thought of blogging about Disablism (Ableism, in my usual language) today seems a bit overwhelming. Instead, here are some signs of hope.

Hope, originally uploaded by Transguyjay

I have hope against Disablism when I see:

-Parents and kids working against Disablism, like Norma Desmond & Knight Lloyd (My favorite of their collaborations is Gifted with Asperger Syndrome)

-A person pulling me aside saying, "I've been thinking about what you shared, and I think that I might identify with neurodiversity***." Second moment of hope when the person identifies publicly. I've seen it happen twice this month alone.
***variations include Autistic Spectrum, Disablism/Ableism, or Scent-Free Spaces

-A person comes to my office for advocacy, and self-advocates to make a change in their own life.

-My partner says that he loves how Aspie I am when I am talking non-stop about Star Trek, making laser noises, rocking about something unjust that I just saw happen, standing on my head, or singing along with completely different notes to a different rhythm.

-At the churches I attend where I see persons with developmental disabilities participating in music leadership, invocation, hospitality, reading sacred texts, and greeting without being limited, or patronized. On Easter at one of the communities, we saw an exceedingly joyful liturgical dance to a gospel song by a young person with Down's Syndrome, which the congregation clapped along to.

-Intentional efforts towards community building of disabled people, such as
Breaking Isolation, Building Community at FORGE Forward Conference

-In a meeting or a social gathering and someone corrects their own Ableist statement. This week, it was a friend/colleague who questioned using the word lame.

-A young person from my former internship site is sharing her excitement about getting a new arm with people who were feeling sorry for her.

-The following blogs/sites:
Pitbull Poet
Ballastexistenz
Chewing the Fat
Ragged Edge Online

-Progress in searching for Anti-Ableism resources for work and finding more and more new good resources every day.

-The person I've corrected when repeatedly saying handicapped with a look of concern finally spontaneously says disabled without grimacing.

-My friends gather for Wednesday breakfast, and we vent about the Disablism we've experienced and seen, challenge our own internalized Disablism, and support each other in living with Disabled Pride and hope.

Feel free to add more examples in the comments.
I'm going to bed so that I can get to breakfast in the morning.

Chaos

Life has been chaotic lately, explaining the lack of posting in the last few months.
Moving across the river has been exciting. Where we're living is great, although we're just now finally getting completely unpacked.

Grandma had a stroke and has aphasia. Grandma also has post-polio syndrome, and has arthritis and a blood disorder, so she's taught me a lot about living with disabilities.
The process of walking through this with my family has been illuminating. Lack of information on part of medical staff, lack of technological familiarity, ageism, ableism, and other people's unmanaged/unacknowledged disabilities converge in a very different situation for people over retirement age who experience disability. It's the same disfunctional societal systems, but amplified and hidden.

I've been working as an Individual Advocate at a CIL for the last few months. Work is very challenging. I love being able to work with people's disability advocacy requests, especially when I'm teaching skills, facilitating communication, assisting to resolve conflicts, or showing people how to get through the system. Yet, it would be so much more effective if I didn't spend hours on the phone just waiting to talk to the hostile case worker or SSA. We're understaffed too, along with the dilemma of getting more referrals when you do a good job. But it's amazing to see things get resolved that seemed overwhelming and impossible. Yet, some of them don't, and I'm frustrated and angered by the lack of services/support that some people get left with. I can hope that they learned some self-advocacy skills in the process, and maybe one of the referrals I gave might have some better ideas, but ultimately there are still millions of people that are living without control over basic life decisions.

My new favorite blog:
Chewing the Fat

What I'm absorbed in at the moment...

Absorbed in reading these books:


Absorbed in watching:

Absorbed in listening to:

More from Seward Breakfast

A few more from Seward Wednesday Breakfast last week.
They must have been tired.

Summer

Summer has been busy. Take a look at photos from recent events
at Jay's Flickr site.

In other news, I've completed my 3-month temporary job, and
am applying for another temporary job as well as for a
Chaplaincy Residency starting in September for 9-12 months.