Saturday, 23 November 2013

Weekend reading and viewing: 23rd - 24th November 2013

My Response to Ellen Stumbo’s “7 Ways to Help a Special Needs Family”
Jisun Lee, Kimchi Latkes, 15th November 2013
.. There are some things that Ellen Stumbo writes with which I very much agree ... This article by Ellen Stumbo, however, about ways to help special needs families, makes me deeply uncomfortable. She starts by asserting that “we are no different than you”, but then goes on (to) manufacture a host of differences under the “special needs” umbrella ...

Best-selling writer rights R-word wrong
USA Today (news video), 16th November 2013
A Maine mom who blogs about the triumphs and tribulations of raising a young son with Down syndrome took best-selling author and New York Times columnist Chuck Klosterman to task for using the R-word ...

I Am the Author of the Open Letter to Chuck Klosterman Regarding the R-word
Kari Wagner Peck, Huffington Post (Good News), 21st November 2013
... At the risk of sounding trite, Mr. Klosterman is who we have been waiting for. People with intellectual disabilities and their families and friends and allies have been waiting for someone of his stature and character to come to the fore ... It would have been easy for him to counter my question with the ever-popular rant-against-political-correctness ...

It's Never "Just A..."Jen Logan, Down Wit Dat, 19th November 2013
It never ceases to amaze me how many feel that this is actually open for discussion.
I, and countless other advocates for the Intellectually Disabled (including self-advocates) hear "it's just a..." in regards to each new thing that crops up, each new use of the word "retarded". It's just a word. It's just a lipstick. It's just a shirt ...

My Place in This Conversation
Alison Piepmeier, The Feminist Wire, 19th November 2013
... It’s notable to me that intellectual disability is sometimes left out of these conversations—feminist conversations as well as disability studies conversations. I suspect this is in part because people with intellectual disabilities don’t often write their own memoirs or analyses. ...Because people with Down syndrome aren’t attending the conferences, writing in the academic journals, or heading up activist efforts, they’re often ignored—not with hostility, but with a subconscious invoking of what Peggy McIntosh calls “the myth of meritocracy.” There’s a way in which other issues related to disability—mobility issues, Deafness, blindness, the “freak” show—are seen as more important, and perhaps as more easily addressed ...

2013 Gift List is here!!!
Jennifer Bekins, Talk - Down Syndrome, 18th November 2013
... spending time together – interacting and playing - are more important than anything on this list. None of these items were developed for children with DS. There is nothing magical in a product; even the ones I’ve listed for you. The magic is in relationship ...


I Had Critics When I Adopted a Son With Down Syndrome, But My Daughter Wasn't One of Them
Lisa Eicher, Huff Post Parents, 21st November 2013
When my husband and I announced to family and friends our decision to adopt our son, a 7-year-old boy with Down syndrome in Bulgaria, the news was not met with open arms. I knew that there would be a lot of skeptics, which is why we waited until we were pretty far along in the process to tell anyone. But I did not anticipate the pushback we were about to receive ...

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