So, about all the disability rants I've been posting, this year.

[capri0mni]

I've ranted a bit, now and than, randomly, about discrimination against the disabled, ever since I started this LJ, back when my user's name was "Pomeroyschild." As a matter of fact, I vented about well-meaning bigotry in my first post-midnight entry here: Well, it happened again (so it shows up as being on my second day here, but it was still in my first wake-sleep cycle -- you know how it is).

But this year, the same sorts of "minor annoyances" that I use to let roll off my back and then forget about, have been really bothering me, as when I casually scratch a mild itch, and open up a tiny spider bite into a huge-attention-swallowing-and-spreading rash that I have to bite my lip to keep from scratching again. I think it all started after seeing Dick Cheney in wheelchair at Obama's Inauguration, and I did some web-surfing to see if anyone else noted the irony that he was in an E&J chair. And I came upon a few very eloquent and impassioned essays about the indignity he was forced to endure. And once it was pointed out to me, I saw it everywhere, and it bothered me -- as a fish living in water all her life might not even be consciously aware of the pollution she's breathing in until a migrating fish points it out.

Anyway, in reading these other blogs, I came across this logo:



And, though following a link that spiralsheep sent me last night, I learned that there is an annual Blogging Against Disablism Day on May 1st.

So, I woke up this morning thinking that maybe I should sign up, and write one more new, fresh, non-recycled post on the subject as a sort of Beltane fire cleansing ritual, and then put a bandaid over the spider bite and not scratch it again until next year. What do you think?

[Poll #1389951]

Comments

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

I don't have time for special posts at the moment but I'll try to continue tackling issues as they rise up to slap me in the face. I, erm, "enjoy" your "issues" posts too. ::encourages you::

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

::encourages you::

*Is encouraged* ... It's a good thing I've got a writerly, rather than criminal, bent, then, isn't it? >;-)

[scarfman]

Well, I was on the verge of commenting something curious, well-meaning and not-necessarily-borderline insensitive yesterday or the day before; so I voted yes but keep writing here, choosing to be content (because that's the bit I wasn't grokking), and me too (but it couldn't hurt to remind me the day before).

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Okay, now you've got me curious. What were you going to ask (if you remember)? If it's insensitive, I'll tell you. And I reserve the right not to answer.

But there's no harm in asking.

(And yes, I'll be posting a reminder on Thursday night, too. ...Would you like a PM, too?)

[scarfman]

It was going to be something like, "I know you've said you wouldn't change yourself in any way, and you value the person you are as a result of your adversities - I feel the same. But, with the ranting you've been doing lately I can't help but wonder, don't you sometimes wish you could get out of bed and go down to the corner for a paper without more than half an hour elapsing or society being wholly reformed?"

Do you know how the PM on LJ works? I don't, though I've received them.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Yes, I do wish I could go to the store for my own carton of milk and a magazine on my own...

That's not the same as wishing I could walk.

It means I wish my neighborhood had sidewalks. If my neighborhood had sidewalks, I'd have no trouble getting to the grocery store -- there's one right around the corner from me, practically.

Sometimes, I do wish I could magically make my CP disappear for an hour, just to see if and how people would react to me differently. But that's just idle curiosity. If some well-meaning wizard magically cured me in my sleep, and I woke up with my body "perfect" by society's standands, I would go through a period of deep and profound mourning. I'd also probably have a panic attack.

But, just as survivors of trauma are perfectly capapble of living happily after being able-bodied, I'd probably (eventually) be happy after being disabled. But it would take time, and psychological counseling.

And sidewalks and accessible mass-transit are easier to accomplish than hiring a wizard, and less expensive and soul-numbing than chasing down every conventional and alternative therapy for the rest of my natural-born days, longing for a cure (and besides, they'd benefit a lot more people in my community besides myself).

[scarfman]

And the reason, in the end, that I didn't ask is that I know all this, really, at least intellectually. The wouldn't-change-myself argument goes a long way with me. But even when my id gets the better of me, it's not that I wish to "fix" you per se - I just want you to be happy. I only feel that way when you're ranting.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know...

Once, when my father and I were on a family vacation with cousins, and he'd had one too many Guinesses, he let it slip out loud that he wished I hadn't been born with CP. And I knew that's what he meant, too: that he wished I had an easier life, because no man wants to see his daughter (or his friend) struggle. So I forgave him. :-) At least, he was never a mean drunk.

But my life would also have been easier if I had been born to be a tall, blond, althletic man. And hearing my dad wish I didn't have CP stung almost as much as if he'd said he'd wished he'd had a son instead of a daughter.

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

Do you know how the PM on LJ works?

Go here:

http://www.livejournal.com/inbox/compose.bml

(The link is accessible from your inbox. It's a button @ top left in the horizon site scheme but I don't know which scheme you're using.)

You can also pm people from their profile page,

e.g. http://capriuni.livejournal.com/profile ,

via the "send message" or "private message" links.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Ooops. I misvoted. I meant to vote on the first: "Yes, but keep writing throughout the year, too."

Whenever I've blogged about it myself folks thank me because they just haven't thought of what I'm writing about. I think it's really helpful for people, of not also cathartic for ones' self.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Misvote duly noted. That's one feature of LJ blogs I wish wasn't a feature...

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

If you want to change your vote then you can do so at this link:

http://www.livejournal.com/poll/?id=1389951&mode=enter

For future reference it's reached by clicking on the poll header link, i.e. Poll #number, and then clicking "[Fill out Poll]". :-)

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much!