October 8 Disabilities Awareness Item

Hi Friends

I did not start out with any clear direction except that it’s National
Disabilities Awareness Month and I have a strong leading to ask
Meeting to interact about the topic NOW. I promised something every
day. To my surprise, considering my capacity for strong and wordy
opinions about lots of things, this promise is proving more daunting
than I expected; yet I persist. I do repeat my offer to take the day
off anytime I receive something with disabilities content including
content indicating substantive interaction with something I have
previously sent before I get around to sending anything out.

I have heard multiple people ask to be taken off the mailing list. I
am asking that you continue, not that you must read everything I send
but that you respect my concern that our community have shared
language to be able to talk and hear each other. I have heard others
tell me that you will not read this or that, because it’s too long or
to wandering or just because you have the luxury of thinking that
dealing with these issues at your leisure is plenty. One Friend “can
get all this Friend wants of the material anytime the Friend wants.”
To be honest, I concur: wanting is not particularly the point but I do
not think it does anyone any favors to pretend we only have to deal
with things we want to deal with or that problems only come along when
some or another Friend is available to interact. Another Friend would
like everything to arrive in nice easily digestible bits of 250 words
or fewer, this despite just having read something where it took more
than 250 words to explain one aspect of a problem, a problem that took
another 45-minute conversation as well.

Another Friend worries that not solving everything immediately will
prove disappointing: it might sometimes, but that is not an excuse not
to get started, not an excuse to do nothing. We are all ministers of
God and sometimes one only has to trust that something one can do will
matter.

But get started for what? Which items speak to you? Personally? About
something in Meeting life? About something else? Today’s entries are
tougher in some ways than others so far.

Here is an item from Blogging against disableism day in the spring.
Content may be upsetting.
http://blobolobolob.blogspot.com/2011/05/blogging-against-disablism-day.html

I would not mind actual citations for a couple of the statistics
cited; when I find some I will include them.
This blog also has some other entries that look interesting as well as
blog roll from other blogs I hope to poke at too.

The Temple U Disability Studies blog for people with an academic bent.
http://disstud.blogspot.com/


A blog from the blog roll of the first item here:
http://cripwheels.blogspot.com/

This blog makes me smile for two reasons: the url claims specific
language and “Wheelchair Dancer” the title calls to mind a Friend from
our Yearly Meeting. The Friend from our Yearly Meeting is a longtime
wheelchair user and mention of this Friend’s name can strike terror
into the hearts of anyone thinking about site selection for Annual
Session. Once in awhile Friends even paid enough attention to his
concerns to be able to identify issues without him needing to visit
personally.

A few years ago, this Friend and his wife split up after a long
marriage. It was one of those amiable Quaker divorces where both sides
continue to go to gatherings and the first wife was genuinely happy
when the Friend came one year to Annual Session with a new partner.
This Friend not only had a new partner, he had decorated his
wheelchair with flashing green Christmas lights which he turned on
while he and his new love did a waltz at a community dance.

This item offered because I brought up politically incorrect language:
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/02/world-wide-spray-can.html


Another RantWoman item offered partly because of something serious on
my mind that I will save for another day:
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/01/community-teas-about-rape-and-violence.html


Thank you for your attention.

In the Light.

(RantWoman)