The wheelchair user in this is Bethany Stevens, who started the “This is What Disability Looks Like” project: http://bitchmagazine.org/post/tales-from-the-crip-this-is-what-disability-looks-like-feminist-magazine-facebook-disabilities-visibility Don’t know who the other person is.
LOVE IT.
In a first, the “journalist’s bible” will include guidance for reporters on how to write about mental illness and conditions like autism.
Officials behind the influential Associated Press Stylebook say they’ve added a new entry for “mental illness.”
The addition to the guide — which is relied upon by reporters at news outlets nationwide — advises journalists not to mention a diagnosis of autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or other mental disorders unless it is germane to the story and properly sourced.
What’s more, when mentioning a person’s mental illness in a news story, the AP Stylebook urges reporters to be as specific as possible about their diagnosis and include examples of symptoms. Journalists are advised to “avoid descriptions that connote pity,” stay away from terms like insane, crazy, nuts or deranged and told not to assume that mental illness is associated with violent crime.
“It is the right time to address how journalists handle questions of mental illness in coverage,” said Kathleen Carroll, executive editor and senior vice president at the AP. “When is such information relevant to a story? Who is an authoritative source for a person’s illness, diagnosis and treatment? These are very delicate issues and this Stylebook entry is intended to help journalists work through them thoughtfully, accurately and fairly.”
Citing the National Institute of Mental Health, autism is one of the conditions listed under mental illness, but the entry includes a note indicating that “many experts consider autism a developmental disorder, not a mental illness.”
The new listing was immediately added to the online version of the AP Stylebook and will be included in the 2013 print edition which is expected to be published this spring, officials said.
While the entry for “mental illness” is new, this is not the first time that the guide has been updated to clarify how journalists should refer to those with various disabilities. In 2008, for example, the manual was updated to indicate that the term “mentally retarded” was no longer acceptable, replacing it with “mentally disabled.”
The AP Stylebook also includes entries for “disabled, handicapped, impaired” and “Asperger’s syndrome.”
So, and thus, disability tragedy porn. This is a particular type of narrative about disability that can appear in fiction and nonfiction, in a wide variety of media. It conceptualises disability in a very specific way, tragedising the lived experience of disabled people and underscoring the idea that disability is the worst thing ever, the most awful imaginable thing that could happen to someone. It collapses all disabled experiences into one umbrella of misery.
(Source: se-smith)
I want to one day go to restaurant and leave and talk about the food as the main thing. I don’t want to leave and say, well the food wasn’t the best, and the service wasn’t great, but hey, they treated us almost like people! Let’s go back!
I want to be treated like a person. The fact that I’m not is what causes the most problems with being disabled. Not all, but most.
and like always, we rated our experience. It’s good to keep track of the places that worked well, and the places that, well, were a mess.
Anyways, we were discussing what a lot of people talk about with restaurants, did we like the food, what was the service like, etc.
But it still surprised me that my main reason for wanting to go back?
We weren’t treated like shit.
There were some minor incidents, but it was one of the better experiences I have had with the group of us. Going out with 12 disabled people is an adventure. And we’ve had some good experiences, and a lot of less than great ones.
I don’t think a lot of people understand that I’m serious when I say that we rate restaurants on if we were treated like children or the entertainment, or if we were actually treated like adults. How decent the food was isn’t even that important, because half the time we’re trying to just get respect.
G.I.M.P. Boot Camp is now on vimeo
“G.I.M.P. Boot Camp is a satirical exploration of how co-filmmaker Danielle Peers navigates between the social expectations of able-bodiedness and disability. Through a dramatic “CRIP Awards” ceremony, an infomercial-style guide to survival, and a touching testimonial from a recovering inspiration addict, G.I.M.P. Boot Camp uses humour to deconstruct the stereotypes of disability.”
I walk and use a wheelchair as well and I love how this movie makes fun of how that is policed.
Actors who best understand characters with disabilities say they aren’t getting their shot
Saturday, 6/8, 2-4pm(usually 2nd Saturday of Every Month), 2-4pmSliding scale $10-$20 (more if you can, less if you can’t, **nobody turned away** — if you’re broke you should still come write with us!)Workshop facilitated by Gina de VriesThis is a writing workshop for current and former sex workers to share their writing and get honest, non-judgmental feedback. Workshop participants are not obligated to write exclusively about sex work, but writing about work in the sex industry (as well as writing about other topics) will be welcomed. This is a place where people can write and share about their sex work experiences without having to censor themselves or explain every detail. Beginning writers are encouraged to attend along with more seasoned wordsmiths.Sex Workers’ Writing Workshop is all-genders. We define the term “sex worker” broadly, as people who have exchanged erotic labor for money/food/shelter, including but not limited to:+Street and Survival Sex Workers+Escorts and Personal Companions+Sensual Massage and Sensual Body Work Providers+BDSM workers; pro-dommes, subs, and switches+Adult Film Actors; Porn Models and Performers; Nude Models; Cam Girls and Boys+Exotic Dancers; Strippers; and Peep Show Workers+Phone Sex Operators+And many other Sex Workers and Adult Entertainers!(If we’re forgetting your area of the industry in this definition, tell us!)**Email questions, volunteer inquiries, etc, to queershoulder@gmail.com.**While we can’t guarantee a scent-free space, we ask that all attendees please refrain from wearing scented products to ensure that workshop members with chemical sensitivities can attend.**We ask that our non-sex worker friends, lovers, partners, allies, and clients respect that this space is FOR SEX WORKERS ONLY.INSTRUCTOR BIO: Gina de Vries is a genderqueer femme, a queer Paisan pervert, and a writer, performer, and activist with a long history doing political organizing in and with queer, trans and gender-variant, intersex, and sex worker communities. She co-edited the queer youth anthology [Becoming] with Diane Anderson-Minshall in 2004, and her publications include The San Francisco Bay Guardian, $pread, Curve, Coming & Crying, Take Me There: Trans & Genderqueer Erotica, and The Revolution Starts at Home. Gina is the founder and co-curator (with Elena Rose and Julia Serano) of “Girl Talk: a trans & cis woman dialogue,” a spoken-word show fostering and promoting dialogue about relationships of all kinds between non-trans and trans women. She has performed, taught, and lectured everywhere from chapels to leatherbar backrooms, and university appearances include Harvard University and Yale University. She is the founder and facilitator of Sex Workers’ Writing Workshop, a writing class for current & former sex workers at San Francisco’s Center for Sex & Culture (where she also serves on the Advisory Board). A graduate of Hampshire College, Gina is currently pursuing her Master of Fine Arts in Fiction Writing at San Francisco State University, where she is working on a book of short stories. Find out more at ginadevries.com, and keep track of her on the daily atqueershoulder.tumblr.com
May 24th, Friday
7 PM Whorrific Cabaret at Center for Sex & Culture, 1349 Mission St.
9:30 PM On board the Whorrific Popcorn Theatre Bus!
Performance curator and international multi-media artist Mariko Passion brings this San Francisco phenomenon to the Sex Worker Festival with the “Whorrific Popcorn Theater Bus and Cabaret.” Storytellers and performers take riders on a magical adventure with a Happy Ending! Ms. Passion guides the guests as Ana May Tong, (after Ana May Wong, the first famous Chinese actress in the U.S.)A long running San Francisco tradition, the Popcorn Anti-Theater Bus Tours “encourage audience participation, costumes and general bonhomie. The trips focus on the underground artists and performers who are an increasing rarity in a city where overzealous development and rising housing prices are driving them out.” (SF Gate)
This sex worker ‘show and tell’ edition visits the haunts and landmarks of SF whoredom (like City Hall) where sex workers dish the dirt about what really goes on in “the city that knows how.”
Performers include Scarlot Harlot, Femme 6, Absinthia, Ckiara Rose, Dee Dee Russell, Hernan Cortez, Sister Dana Van Iquity, The Incredible Edible Akynos, Ben Goldstein, Tom Orr, Mariko Passion and more.
“Art is the method for coping and growing beyond cultures barriers and barrio’s,” says Magician, Heran Cortez. “The Art of the Oppressed is triumphant merely in it’s creation and communication. The audiences willingness to witness and honor the oppressed artist is an act of nobility, nurturing, suturing and chain-breaking.”
“In other words, make sure to bring some cash!” explains Scarlot Harlot. “Sex Workers Unite! Outlaw Poverty, Not Prostitutes!”More about Ana May Tong by Mariko PassionAnna May Tong is a character inspired by the Chinese American actress Anna May Wong, but with a Chinese Tong gangstress edge. The Tongs were notorious for running gambling and prostitution houses in San Francisco and other parts of the U.S in the 1800s and were the feared power in charge of trafficking Chinese girls into sex slavery during that time in history. Many Chinese girls paid off their debts and married Chinese men who were former railroad workers opening Chinese laundries or went on to continue life in the sex trade as independent and voluntary sex workers. Anna May Wong spoke Chinese but did not have an accent and was born in Los Angeles. She was known for playing stereotypical Asian characters in Hollywood in the 1920-30s such as the villainess, the prostitute (Shanghai Express with Marlene Deitrich) or girl who does not get the guy (because he is white and anti-misegenation was iLLEGAL til the 1960s). As an actress, she earned respect by film studios like Paramount. She was a trailblazer in Hollywood, enjoying a life of privilege beyond the imaginations of most Asian-Americans at the time and is one of the few American born Asians that has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.About the artists:The Center for Sex & Culture ADA Accessible, so the Cabaret is accessible from 7-9 PM.We are sorry but the 9:30 Popcorn Theater Bus tour is not accessible. Childcare, translation and signing services are available upon request.We also ask you to assist us in making this a scent free environment (seepeggymunson.com/mcs/fragrancefree.html ). Please email sexworkerfest@gmail.com or call 510-410-4318 to request these or other options. Also see Logistics/Accessibility.For further information or to volunteer, contact: swfest@bayswan.org
When people try to compare folks with chronic disease, it really pisses me off. Like “oh, you have XYZ? Hmm. My friend has that, and she can’t leave the house, so how is it that you manage to travel and to get a PhD?”
Yes, please doubt me. Please, tell me again that my pain can’t really be that bad because my experience is different from someone else’s. And also, aside from teaching a few days a week, I AM basically housebound the majority of the time, and no one sees how wrecked I am those days, so don’t assume you know what my life is like. Don’t tell me that my accomplishments mean less because it seems to you that my pain wasn’t as bad as you assume someone else’s was. I’m apparently not allowed to be both happy and disabled. Anything I accomplish must be a lie because someone else with the same disease couldn’t do that.
See also: people who try to make me feel bad for any success I have, for whatever reason.
People are mostly assholes, especially on the internet.
I am Corey Alexander. I am a white queer polyamorous transgender stone butch. I am invested in a concept of sex positivity that honors desire, multiplicity and complexity, embodied wholeness, critical analysis, and self determination.
I am often changing, and often a catalyst for change. I value being caring, careful, intentional and present in my connections and life choices. I recognize that nonconsensual violence is common in all communities, am committed to fighting oppression and recognizing privilege, and am invested in endeavoring to only enact power in a deeply consensual and conscious manner.
I teach classes on kink, sex, relationships and anti-oppression activism. I write queer kink erotica under the name Xan West.
I mostly post quotes and news about my upcoming classes, readings, and publications.
I strongly disagree with...
1. turned 50 pages of How To Have A Body (aka my Thesis) in to my advisor.
2. decided...
I’ve started a new blog, where I am posting new works & works-in-progress from a...
I’m answering this publicly because this is a subject that I think can’t be discussed enough.
For...
