A couple quips to ease into RantWoman’s inexplicable ability to turn
every conversation into something about disability, and 2000 words today to
boot:
From somewhere in one of RantWoman’s media streams, “Jesus did not come
to die; he came to teach us how to live!”
From one of the regulars on the blind Prayer Warriors call, because
RantWoman is fascinated by the different ways people talk about God, “I rebuke
the coronavirus in the name of Jesus!”
Faces and reflections from the Draft State of Society report
“RantWoman, why the HELL does it mean so much to see the faces of
people in your Meeting even if quite a lot of them would really really would
rather not see you anywhere near Meeting for Worship?”
God only knows! God only knows…! But ya know, if Sara Bridgesong
connects without either mic or video….
Digression available about facial interaction RantWoman has always been
bad at in the first place, has of course gotten worse with midlife issues, and
what changes for better or worse with different forms of magnification and
other assistive technology. And when RantWoman can see her face in much more
detail than the average mirror, WTH happened to that face? But in the land of
#StayHome ..whatever, even faces attached to people one might conceivably be
irritated with are a blessing.
Digression also available about a similar experience for another
Friend. RantWoman simultaneously heard Ambassador Thwack grumble, “look Friend,
totally honoring your distress for a few weeks of no faces, and we’re coming up
on 15 years of greatly reduced faces for another Friend” and found herself wanting
to hug the Friend for nailing real distress
But Dial-a-Tirade available still, yet, again: how very nice for all
the people who want points for grieving, don’t assume RantWoman cares about
anything but coming to memorials, and in the meantime want to send RantWoman
off to worship with strangers. Sure, okay, first YOU DON’T have to do all the
things some of you seem to be trying to do and RantWoman is growing less and
less patient by the day with people
exhausting themselves doing things that are unhelpful and harmful. There are
arms and legs and people who easily get important concepts available.
Plus, if y’all are planning to
die off anyway, and you don’t mind continuing to write State of Society reports
only about aging and shrinking…, but RantWoman thinks god is bigger than that. RantWoman
is thrilled about things due their own post about working age families and even
thinking about how something from Meeting relates in that testimony on
integrity way to something outside Meeting, like say work life.
Sara Bridgesong?
Who is Sara Bridgesong? Is she a real person? Is she a cutout? Is she
another personage in the trail of personages standing in for RantWoman such as
Sensible Auntie, Bad Auntie, and Worse Auntie as well as Ambassador Thwack the
badly behaved white cane and anger management consultant? And how is it that
RantWoman is able to communicate with Sara Bridgesong? RantWoman will neither
or confirm nor deny but does thank multiple people for helping to document
continuing problems AND things that roil RantWoman’s soul.…
Sara BridgeSong attended Meeting for Worship and part of Meeting for
Business yesterday. RantWoman understands that there have been people appointed
to vet RantWoman’s presence and RantWoman is glad to hear aspirations toward
transparency expressed in a public meeting. And after multiple emails about timelines,
RantWoman became clear to trust her Light.
RantWoman also seasoned a small temper tantrum: It was Easter-freaking Sunday. The RantFamily
survived without any attempt at family dining via internet and there was no way
RantWoman was going to try to say Easter things via the chat. But it was Easter
Freaking Sunday.
And RantWoman had a further tantrum in email: There is no good time to have midlife vision
loss, a global pandemic, an insane president, lucha libre among the world's
billionaires, African Americans everywhere dying of COVID at 2x their
percentage of the general population, the current administration trying to
shred generations of civil rights laws protecting people with disabilities,
people of color….... But here we are.
RantWoman does not get a break from Vision loss. Of COURSE that is
uncomfortable and inconvenient for lots of people but it is just as much a part
of life as "I need to see my hair stylist" and "my sister
has cancer" and "oh, I am doing all these other things,"
particularly now when community is needed more than ever. There are various
ways to set bad examples about postponing things indefinitely as opposed to
process for working things out over time. And the fact that this has gone on
for FIFTEEN
years also has a lot to do with a number of spectacular “great moments
in disability awareness!”
No camera. No Mic. Faithfully listening.
But back to Sara BridgeSong There are practical realities behind the
path to that attendance; Sara Bridgesong, while swimming in technology, is
called to be present with the reality that there are many reasons people have
technology that is less than up to the second current. And sometimes there is merit to embracing
those limitations, at least long enough to plow into issues on RantWoman’s mind
for other reasons anyway.
As sometimes happens, when a call is clear, reasons for the call also
become stunningly clear. But one thing at a time. RantWoman notes a concern
below about transparency and will offer specific appreciation.
Disability Awareness
We interrupt to bring echoes of the path in the form of a message from
a former clerk of Worship and Ministry who asked to be taken off the mailing
list when RantWoman decided that pastoral care committees needed a whole month
of Disability awareness materials.
Almost a decade later, after that initial great moment in disability
sensitivity, that Friend has gone from wanting off a mailing list to just
wanting RantWoman out of sight because that Friend somehow knows what is or is
not off-topic for the whole community. RantWoman
is seasoning a possible need to use the word retaliation about this and some
other voices!
Sara Bridgesong expressed a leading to listen faithfully in spite of
technical limitations. RantWoman also tartly points out that live transcription
in the chat is sometimes ONE path to accessibility or inclusion for people with
hearing loss or brain injury or other reasons to need transcription. Based on
one situation RantWoman is painfully aware of, RantWoman is seasoning a leading
to offer to provide that transcription or to suggest that the Friend consider
the option of requesting help. RantWoman is in fact grateful that, judging by
other information, that Friend has in fact requested help for non-electronic
contexts.
Transparency and Integrity
“There is no Sara Bridgesong in
the NPYM directory.”
Friend, do you know anyone else who uses an AKA or one name in one
context and another in another. Do you follow the discussion among young adult
Friends about membership. Can you think of many reasons someone might know of
Quakers but not be listed in anyone’s directory, meaning besides releasing
RantWoman from membership without being able to release her from moral
obligation to speak?
In private chat to Sara Bridgesong, many cries of “Who ARE you?”
RantWoman is given to understand that sometimes people are silently present for
months before being clear to identify themselves. RantWoman hopes other seekers
are greeted in a more welcoming way and not greeted with this suspicious
barrage. RantWoman is also seasoning a need to be cross with one Friend who
keeps complaining that RantWoman is getting in the way of “real” work on
disability.
“In a public meeting, we would be able to look at and identify a person
and we believe in transparency…”
Speak for yourself Friend. RantWoman goes to many meetings where she
has no idea who all is present. Think of
Sara Bridgesong’s presence as blindness tourism, like a cruise ship without the
#CoronaVirus.
As for transparency, THANK YOU SO MUCH for mentioning it. RantWoman is
still clear that she cannot sign onto the lovely Worship and Ministry
guidelines without making reasonable accommodations requests and some
elaboration about process. Conveniently for RantWoman’s fixations, holding meeting
for Business by Zoom is the PERFECT opportunity to work on exactly the topics
on RantWoman’s mind and MAYBE to reverse refusal RantWoman has heard too many
times of a reasonable accommodation request.
Next, in another great moment of astute handling of disability related
matters, well you know, could you consider say sharing with RantWoman all the reports from the Care and
Accountability committee because the committee complained that RantWoman’s
understandings of agreements was not the same from one month to the next but
the committee never provided more than minimal summaries and consistently
refused to address disability issues that bear completely on RantWoman’s
ability to fulfil any agreement made. Transparency
about the weekly bulletin, monthly meeting minutes, and posting the
announcement about Fourth Saturday worship would also look a lot more like
transparency to RantWoman. But, you know…. Then there would be addressing the
entire issue of separate but unequal worship and the disproportionate
transportation burden imposed on RantWoman when she is expected to go worship
with near strangers.
And if you want to get carried away, would you consider addressing
RantWoman’s issues with separate and unequal worship? RantWoman hears some expectation
about “safety” that is not RantWoman’s only experience of worship. Sometimes
Friends are convicted in the Quaker sense, not in the criminal sense of
important openings during worship. Sometimes something comes up like auditory
accessibility for events that is a whole community’s responsibility even when
the weight of words initially falls on one set of shoulders, say because of a
Friend’s sense of being previously blown off multiple times by different people
about the topic. RantWoman is sorry for how one message came out; RantWoman
would SO like there to have been a different message to give.
RantWoman appreciates two Friends, one newcomer for hesitating to pull
the electronic plug, and a second for at least saying “wait” long enough for
Sara ridgesong to make the point that the first time something is done from a
new Faith and Practice really ought to merit particular care in reporting.
RantWoman knows there is a character limit in Zoom chat in the first
place and in the second place really wanted to hear and hold in the Light a
different discussion. But circumstances still did what is needed: Sara
Bridgesong heard two Friends objecting that the draft State of Society had not
gone out with the rest of the Business Meeting materials and that they could
not be clear to approve it based on one oral reading. Oh, BE STILL ONE’s HEART:
other people actually READING what is being worked on and people being able
clearly to ask that process be adjusted. RantWoman feels so much less alone
just having witnessed that, and it is one of those moments very important to
some individuals that might easily be glossed over in minutes.
Maybe if Sara Bridgesong had managed to hold her tongue the State of
Society would still have been held over and she would have been there for
a second really important discussion, but apparently all those assembled needed
to hear the clerk publicly assert that Sara Bridgesong as a newcomer appalled
by the events outlined in the State of Society report has no standing to
suggest that the report about releasing RantWoman from membership specifically
include a statement from RantWoman. RantWoman thinks the words “public
accommodation” somehow belong in this discussion and is seasoning how to
accomplish some vocabulary lessons. RantWoman is also following the process
outlined in Faith and Practice and has sought help and clearness process
through Quarterly Meeting Ministry and Counsel.
Things going right, more or less.
On the up side, first let us speak of things going right, more or less.
RantWoman thanks the providers of the most recent survey about NPYM
Annual Session 2020 in a form that was completely accessible to RantWoman, no
fuss, no muss, no after the fact “Oh I hope it’s accessible” comment provoking
RantWoman to write FOUR blog posts about the general problem of small
nonprofits thinking about accessibility. Other surveys long have also been
accessible. Maybe RantWoman is stuck about the NPYM one because she personally
helped lobby to hire the able webmaster who helps tend to such things. Maybe
RantWoman is stuck on the NPYM issue because of getting a copy of the newest
edition of Faith and Practice in reasonably as opposed to minimally accessible
to RantWoman—two days after RantWoman was “released from membership.”
In Light and faithfulness
RantWoman
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