Fidget Spinners and Disability

Recently, I've noticed a big trend in fidget toys, particularly a type called fidget spinners.  At a recent pop culture convention I attended, no less than three separate booths were selling different types of fidget spinners, one was specifically dedicated to fidget spinners.  I have very mixed feelings about this.

Disability Day of Mourning 2017

TRIGGER WARNING: ABUSE OF DISABLED PEOPLE, MURDER, FILICIDE, DEATH, VIOLENCE.

March 1st is over here in New Zealand and I've seen disappointingly little about the significance of today for the disability community, but here's a few thoughts from me about Disability Day of Mourning and why it exists and matters.

Disability under the Reign of Trump

I've been keeping pretty quiet on this issue because I feel like there's enough bad news out there already and plenty of information already available about how and why the Trump administration is bad news for disabled people.  There's also the fact that I come from a position of privilege being a citizen and resident of New Zealand where the socially backwards policies of the republican government in power are less likely to impact me.  But I have friends in the United States who will and are directly affected and I can't keep silent anymore while others suffer.

2017: New Year Updates

It's well into February now, but this is my first post for the year so Happy New Year Everyone!

Politics of Labels

I've been having a lot of discussions lately about the relevance of labels and the issues with some labels versus others.  It's a topic that directly affects a lot of people so naturally discussions can become somewhat heated, but I felt the need to share my thoughts.

Speechless and Media Representation

Anyone who knows me well knows I have a lot to say on the topic of the importance and positive impact of diverse and accurate media representation,  As a kid growing up disabled, I didn't see many (if any) positive and realistic representations of disability that weren't tokenistic (appeared in one episode then disappeared with no further mention), or inspiration fodder for non-disabled viewers.  So it makes sense that I grew up feeling like disability is a bad thing and that I needed to do whatever I could to appear able-bodied as I could - often to my own detriment.

I often get told I expect too much, that I'm too 'politically correct' or that I look for the flaws in everything and will never be satisfied with anything in terms of media.  Personally I think it's more important that everyone views media critically, but that's an issue for another day.  I'm here to say that I've found a show that gets disability representation right and it's brilliant and I love it!

An Update...

I've been a bit quiet on the blog front lately, and while I plan and wish to maintain a presence on here, my posts will continue to be sporadic, but there's good reason for that, as I will explain...

The 'Other' side

Some terms that often come up in sociology and social justice discussion is that of 'Other' and and 'marginalisation'.  I've talked a little bit about marginalisation in previous posts, and Othering is essentially the same, though in my interpretation encompasses more of the individual interactions and ableism.  However the differing interpretations of different people based on different experiences can make working out solutions tricky...

Awesome in Theory...

It's nice when you can solve all the world's problems around the dinner table right?  Unfortunately life is a little more complicated than that...

The B Word

In my last post, I wrote about the book turned movie Me Before You and all the problematic messages that it sends.  Today I want to write a little more about just how widespread the messages and societal beliefs represented in the movie are.

Don't get me wrong here.  I'm not laying all the blame on this one single movie.  Movies and any form of media do not exist in a vacuum.  The ideas and messages within the movie reflect ideas and messages within society and replicate them.  The fact that the movie was so mainstream and widely popularised made it more of an issue however.  But the real problem as I pointed out in my previous post, is that it's just another in a long line of these kinds of narratives in entertainment media.  I'm not here to labour this point though.  What I really want to do today is unpack a bit more the word BURDEN and everything around it and the power it contains.  This is a very emotionally charged word and topic for me, so I apologise in advance if this post gets rambly.