Recently, I've noticed that many people have stopped using the word "disability" and are inventing what I consider to be silly and cutesy euphemisms to use instead. The latest one is "diversability." Now, I am a writer and an editor, and it's my job to work with words. I don't believe that "diversability" is a word. If you put it into two words, " ( Read more... )

The most useful sources of information about disability aren't always the obvious ones, are they?

For several years by now I've been filling in questionnaires for the UK MS Register. Mostly I do that in a public-spirited way, helping those good people with data about me. This time I noticed that the questionnaire 'Your medication' recognises ( Read more... )

Recently on Facebook I was added to an autism group. This group is very big on policing people's language. You are not allowed to refer to autism as a disorder, a disability, or even a "condition," because that is "oppressive" and "pathologizing." It's using the "medical model" instead of the "social model". According to the people in this group, ( Read more... )

What do you call it when somebody tries to fix your disability? Somebody who isn't your doctor or nurse, but whose friend, uncle etc was 'just like you' and whose disability was cured by meditation, exercise, positive thinking etc ( Read more... )

This week, I was at a meeting at my new job, which included my boss (a doctor, who mostly takes care of disabled kids), his boss (a doctor) and a bunch of my colleagues (mostly doctors and nurses who take care of disabled kids) when the PA system beeped overhead, as it does several times a day ( Read more... )

Those on my Flist know that I'm becoming a STEM Ambassador. That's a voluntary role in which I'm to inspire school students to take Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Here in Britain, Stemnet exists to make this happen. I know already how my wheelchair makes me a role model for students ('If I can do it, so can you! Look at Stephen Hawking ( Read more... )

Recently somebody I know (call her G) was in a supermarket with a 3 year old (call him L). He stood in the trolley with her groceries but wanted to walk. He's a well-behaved child. G's back isn't well-behaved so lifting L out of the trolley wasn't possible. So she asked a nearby strong-looking man to lift L out ( Read more... )

Two weeks ago the ME/CFS/Lyme community in Australia lost one of its members and an advocate, Theda.

Her funeral was yesterday.

Click to view

Is there a name for the first stage people go through, when they meet a crip ( Read more... )

In my most recent blog post I absent-mindedly wandered on to the prickly and contentious subject of disease labels. The full version is here (paragraphs four and five I think - if you don't want to read the rest of my ramblings). http://crankst-girl.livejournal.com/2013/05/ ( Read more... )