Shit people say to sick and disabled queers,
And shit sick and disabled queers say (to each other, to other people, to themselves)
And repeat!This is fantastic and funny and exactly right and full of great people (and my hero Leah Lakshmi). And I say this as someone who took her antidepressants and anti-inflammatories and fibro meds this morning and is on her way out for therapy.
(via hoaxzine)
Mari Katayama, “White Legs”
(Source: creepyzombieunicorn, via boundunbound)
Britain’s first bionic veteran has a new brain-controlled robotic arm that is transforming his life.
Andrew Garthwaite, 25, had his right arm blown clean off by a rocket-propelled grenade during a firefight with the Taliban in Afghanistan in September 2010. In January he had the state-of-the-art limb wired to his nervous system during a six-hour operation in Vienna, Austria.Now he is getting to grips with his new body part and is able to ride his motorcycle and drive a car again. Mr Gathwaite, who lives with his new wife Kailey, also 25, in South Shields, Tyneside, said:
‘It’s been incredible. I thought I might never be the same. But my life is starting to get back to normal - I’m on my motorbike and I’m back in a car. I can do things that I never thought I would have been able to do’.Science is amazing.
Wow, it really is.
(via everythingbutharleyquinn)
—
Mia Mingus,
The magnificence of a body that shakes, spills out, takes up space, needs help, moseys, slinks, limps, drools, rocks, curls over on itself. The magnificence of a body that doesn’t get to choose when to go to the bathroom, let alone which bathroom to use. A body that doesn’t get to choose what to wear in the morning, what hairstyle to sport, how they’re going to move or stand, or what time they’re going to bed. The magnificence of bodies that have been coded, not just undesirable and ugly, but un-human. The magnificence of bodies that are understanding gender in far more complex ways than I could explain in an hour. Moving beyond a politic of desirability to loving the ugly. Respecting Ugly for how it has shaped us and been exiled. Seeing its power and magic, seeing the reasons it has been feared. Seeing it for what it is: some of our greatest strength.
Because we all do it. We all run from the ugly. And the farther we run from it, the more we stigmatize it and the more power we give beauty. Our communities are obsessed with being beautiful and gorgeous and hot. What would it mean if we were ugly? What would it mean if we didn’t run from our own ugliness or each other’s? How do we take the sting out of “ugly?” What would it mean to acknowledge our ugliness for all it has given us, how it has shaped our brilliance and taught us about how we never want to make anyone else feel? What would it take for us to be able to risk being ugly, in whatever that means for us. What would happen if we stopped apologizing for our ugly, stopped being ashamed of it? What if we let go of being beautiful, stopped chasing “pretty,” stopped sucking in and shrinking and spending enormous amounts of money and time on things that don’t make us magnificent?
Where is the Ugly in you? What is it trying to teach you?
"—
Mia Mingus
Why I am crippled and not (dis)Abled, differently abled, or handicapable:
When you say that we are not disabled, when you say that we are “better than that”; that instead we are “handicapable”, simply “differently” abled, or when you haphazardly throw a parenthesis around an unsuspecting prefix, what you are really saying is that you are afraid. You are afraid of acknowledging the fact that someone can be disabled and still be human being, no more and no less than anyone else. You are afraid of our bodies; and try to lessen the blow by concealing them with normative labels.
When you say “See the Person, Not the Disability”; what you mean is: our bodies should be ignored and our experiences erased in order to make you more comfortable with our presence. What you mean is: Disabled bodies are offensive, macrabe, and they must be overlooked in order for the substance and the humanity of the person to be seen.
When you separate the person from the disability, you are erasing and denying a part of that person’s identity. People are not their disability, but their disability is a part of them, and you shouldn’t have to erase it, ignore, or see past it, in order to accept them.
i really admire the design of these stairs and how they incorporate a wheelchair access ramp. in a world were barrier free design is essential to living a full and happy life, its amazing to see landscape architect Cornelia Oberlander has taken literal steps to design stairs AROUND a ramp, instead of the other way around.
RE: in response to amount of discussion ive been getting with this photo, id like to put my opinion in the mix, as some people have been getting quiet upset about this.
for those of you who arent studying architecture, the inclusion of barrier free design in modern architecture and civil projects has been a very positive addition. with a large portion of north america’s population entering their elderly age, the need for barrier free entrances, exits, pathways and vertical elevation devices is a must, and it makes sense.
there are a few people who have negatively commented that perhaps the ramp is a a little too steep, that including the ramp in the middle of the stairs is degrading to a person with a disability and that these citizens are “getting in the way” of able-bodied people, who are walking up the stairs. i am very glad this design has brought up these issues, and it only continues to prove that there are still kinks to work out in barrier free design.
my take: after analyzing the picture, i have discovered 2 things:
1. as i live in Ontario, Canada, i will reference the Ontario Building Code: “barrier free ramps” are allowed a maximum slope of 1:12 (4.7 degree slope). my best guess from the stairs in this picture, there is a 1:2 (26.5 degree slope). that being said, this stair design is in Vancouver, British Columbia and doesnt follow the Ontario Building Code. fortunately, BC does have a similar building code, and the 26 degree slope makes this a non-barrier free ramp. on the other hand though, there was no mention of this ramp even being built to barrier free standards, BUT persons with wheelchair-required disables could still find this ramp useful if used with an able-bodied care taker.
2. my response to the idea that the ramp degrades disabled persons since they are crossing the path of able-bodied, and have a longer route, is the exact OPPOSITE. please think to yourself the last time you noticed a barrier free ramp that was one of the main entrance ways, and not off to the side, away from the main set of stairs. the idea of this design was to incorporate the ramp into the stairs, thereby giving respect to the disabled persons, and combining both entrances into a single, equal entrance. i strongly believe this is a fantastic way of viewing society as one group of people with different needs, rather than separate groups with different abilities.
thanks for your time guys, i appreciate the feedback. let me know what your take on it is :)
