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Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles Update

Tropic Thunder: What you can do now.
August 12, 2008

Dear Family and Friends of the DSALA:

There has been a tremendous outpour of support for the DSALA's efforts in regards to concerns over the DreamWorks film "Tropic Thunder" and the affects the language in the film will have now, and in the future, on individuals with Down syndrome and other intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Twenty DSALA members joined a group of 200 in a protest Monday night inWestwood, CA across the street from the Gala Premiere of the film.  We were joined by Special Olympics, The Arc, TASH and more.
·    Thank you to all who came out.
·    Thank you for the volunteer support in our office during this time.

Many of you who were not able to attend the protest or assist in the office have asked what else you can do.  Here you go!

Go to a new website set up by Special Olympics and sign up on their site to pledge your support to eliminate the demeaning use of the "r-word."  The more who sign up the better, this site will assist us in putting pressure on decision makers in the media and elsewhere.  Please forward to all you friends and family and have them support the cause as well.

Take advantage of The Arc website addressing "Tropic Thunder."  You can catch up on all the articles and download their chapter "Action Kit" if you are planning a protest event of your own.  You can also check their list of upcoming protests to join.  Their calendar is being updated by the minute so keep checking back.

LINKS:

Disability News: Boycott Expected,    Roundup of "Tropic Thunder" media protest covered,  Groups Weigh Boycott of "Tropic Thunder"

Cross-posted on Planet of the Blind

       
      

[with]tv needed in China. STAT.

Dr. Mark Mostert, host of the blog Disability Matters, recently wrote:

Well, well, well.

A day or two ago, London’s Times reported that official, but curious, Chinese attitudes towards people with disabilities have surfaced in the run-up to this summer’s Olympics, and, perhaps more unfortunately, for the World Paralympics also scheduled for Beijing in September.

It turns out that the official Olympic guide for both events, “Skills for helping the disabled,” distributed to 100,000 Chinese volunteers, contains a curious mix of plain old prejudice and plain old ignorance.

Read on:  Disability Dust-Up in Beijing

Harriet McBryde Johnson

Beth Haller of Media dis&dat has shared her thoughts on the sad news that Harriet McBryde Johnson has passed away: (follow the link above and you will also find numerous links to Harriet's writings and interviews)

I knew Harriet through her writings and the occasional emails we would exchange about media and disability topics. She always supported my work and was a disability activist who truly knew the significance of media images of disability and their impact in the lives of people with disabilities....

She was a spirited and tireless crusader for disability rights, and she will be sorely missed.

Writer and disability rights advocate Laura Hershey of Crip Commentary has created a tribute Web site about disability rights activist, author and attorney Harriet McBryde Johnson, who unexpectedly died June 3.

We (the [with]tv "team") did not know her personally but we benefited from her existence, energy, intellect and her ability.  We would like to honor her and thank her in passing, too little and too late. -- Howard Renensland, CEO & Founder, [with]tv

Disability and Language: a NY Times Article Review

This comment was left on a post by William Peace on his blog, Bad Cripple.   Therextras wrote " Thank you for an excellent expose of a typical media dissemination of language and attitudes we would like not only to reform but squelch. I hope you sent some response directly to the newspaper." 

Team [with]tv would like to second that remark.

Here is an excerpt from William's post. 

Monday, May 12, 2008

Disability and Language

Yesterday a long article appeared in the New York Times entitled "Taking a Chance on a Second Child". The article was written by Michael Winerip, a Pulitzer Prize wining writer. Mr. Winerip is a seasoned reporter, graduate of Harvard University and a gifted writer. Yet a day later I remain stunned and outraged by the language Winerip used. The article in question is about Jordana Holovach, her son Jacob who is severely disabled, and her decision to have a second "healthy" child.

The tone of Winerip's article is shocking. Each and every mention of disability is overwhelmingly negative. The language is antiquated, insulting, and devalues the life of a child and by extension all disabled children and adults. Among the snippets I found particularly appalling include the following:

In referring to Ms. Holovach's son: "And as much as she loves that boy and as hard as she's worked to make him whole...she felt snake bit"

Ms. Holovach's son is "confined to a wheelchair".

Ms. Holovach's son was responsible for her divorce: "Her first marriage ended in divorce under the strain" and "Jacob was a big reason".

Before Ms. Holovach's son was born "they were successful people" (note tense).

Oh don't stop here.  Keep reading, there is more....

Then stop by Patricia E Bauer's blog for this additional link.

 

A Matter of Time and Place

Dr. Mark Mostert on his new blog Disability Matters:

"So there we have it. In India, disability is viewed as a blessing, in Brazil, a fatal curse. Both instances target the children through anthropological and cultural lenses.

I’ll leave cultural perceptions of disability until another time. What’s important here is to note that while any society has its views about disability, it’s only happenstance in many places that makes the difference between living with a disability and being killed because of it."

Bullycide

Bullycide: suicide triggered by relentless bullying and depression in school.

"...tragically, researchers have discovered that almost 40% of bullied students are students with disabilities."

Joyce Bender is a contributor to The Cutting Edge.  She brings this disturbing trend to our attention in her article: Bullycide: The Only Escape for Some Brutalized Children with Disabilities

Cross-posted on Crimes Against People with Disabilities

Why We Need TV and Movies That Include People with Disabilities: Part 104

So there I was today on NPR’s “On Point” program with two terrific blind professionals and I was feeling like the school kid who has to use the bathroom and can’t wait any longer to announce the matter. I needed to say that the reason blind people are so woefully unemployed and the reason that the public marvels at the accomplishments of exemplary blind professionals like Gordon Gund or David A. Paterson is that the film and TV industries continue to make blindness look horrible.  Who wouldn’t imagine, after seeing that dreadful movie “At First Sight” (with Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino) that being blind isn’t a minimal life? That movie came out at the same time as my memoir “Planet of the Blind” and it reinforced every cliché about blindness that I was trying to conquer. If the human resources professionals saw a prime time television show in which a blind person confidently uses state of the art assistive technology—heck, even showing the non-disabled characters a thing or two about the gizmos, well that would be as big a step toward changing the climate of unemployment for the blind as our well intentioned celebration of Governor Paterson’s oath of office. Let’s face it: the public thinks that blind people are scarcely able to navigate their living rooms. How could they possibly serve as good employees? That Ph.D. or Master’s degree must be some kind of a trick. That’s it! The “brainiac” blind woman or man is probably “faking it” just like those guys you see  begging for money with the phony sunglasses. Yep! That’s gotta be it! How do I know this at (insert company name here)? Because I just saw Disney’s film version of Mr. Magoo. Now there’s a blind guy for you! Ha! I laughed til  I dropped my popcorn on my plaid shorts. Boy Oh Boy  was that ever a good movie!

In case anybody’s wondering, I was once interviewed by a producer of ABC’s television program “20/20”about the possibility of an interview associated with the publication of “Planet of the Blind”. What did I do to ruin the deal? I mentioned that ABC is owned by Disney and that the new film of Mr. Magoo was a disgrace. They were very nice as they showed me to the door.

S.K.   

Professor Stephen Kuusisto
Department of English
The University of Iowa
308 EPB
Iowa City, IA 52242

Links:

Remembering Mr. Magoo

Cross-posted on Planet of the Blind
 

Crimes Against People with Disabilities

Crimes Against People with Disabilities: A brand new blog and A Place to Tell It Like It Is 

 

In 2002 Professor Mark Sherry, then at the University of California, published an intriguing article about the grievous underreporting of hate crimes against people with disabilities in the United States.

The most important dimension of this piece resides in the FBI’s suggestion that hate crimes against the disabled are statistically negligible. The findings of an accompanying study by the UC Berkeley’s program in disability studies suggest that police and law enforcement officials are often reluctant to categorize crimes against people with disabilities as hate crimes because officers aren’t sufficiently trained to identify biased based crimes. Additionally, it is easier to classify a crime as simple assault.

Alas, not much has changed in the six years since this article was published even though disability rights advocates have continued to point out the seriousness of this underreporting problem.

The aim of this blog is to give people with disabilities and their fellow advocates a place to publicly record narratives of abuse against PWDs. These narratives might be first person accounts or associated stories drawn from the news media or the internet. They might be links to blogs or links to announcements concerning public policy and law enforcement initiatives aimed at addressing these problems. Other posts might include articles or bibliographies about these issues.

Above all else it’s safe to say that the gathering of this information will be timely.

Cross-posted on Planet of the Blind

Unbelievable

Speaking of disability in the media, by now you're probably quite aware of the Brian Sterner video in which he can be seen being "dumped" out of his wheelchair by a disbelieving officer from the Hillsboro County Sheriff's Department.  I won't post the video here.  If you haven't seen it yet you can view it on the Rolling Rains Report, where Dr. Scott Rains has also posted numerous links covering this story.

Today I stumbled on a post that referred to Brian Sterner as a "dumbass" who, it would seem in the view of the author of this particular post, kind of had it coming to him.  My words, not his.  This blogger acknowledged that it was inappropriate to dump "the cripple" out of his wheelchair, but in a way he couldn't blame the deputy who did it.  Apparently Mr. Sterner was not on his best behavior that day.

"To quote JJ 'its always the dumbasses who get abused by cops and get paid big money. why cant the cops abuse someone nice?' "

Oh no.  Could it be that this media focus on Brian Sterner is nothing more than a lost opportunity?  Is it being wasted on him?  If only he had "behaved" that day.  If only he wasn't such a "*#*&%@*" 

Perhaps it would have been better if the cameras had been rolling on Ruth when she, the Wheelie Catholic, had her wheelchair pulled out from underneath her and broke bones in both her wrists as a result.  No, apparently Ruth was no angel that day either.  As nice as Ruth is, she apparently  "chose to move" too slow as she so often does.  I guess Ruth wouldn't make the perfect victim either.

Let's hope someone really nice, someone really innocent, gets abused by the cops - and soon.  Then maybe he or she can sue, "get paid big money", and give us all reason to be appalled.   THEN all this media attention will be justified, don't you think?  And we'll all feel better, wont' we?

Well Now, Here's an Interesting Statistic.

Speaking of the Inclusion Daily Express, I just read an article in yesterdays edition, written by Editor Dave Reynolds about the Theater By The Blind keeping its initials "TBTB" but changing it's name to Theater Breaking Through Barriers.

The decision to change the name of the theater is "to reflect a shift in its mission to include artists with any disability" (and not just those who are blind or visually impaired).  As of 2007, TBTB has been including people with other types of disabilities in stage productions.

In this article, Dave Reynolds quoted Ike Schambelan, TBTB's Co-Artistic Director:

Schambelan noted that while 52 million Americans -- or 18 percent of the population -- experience disabilities, "only 2 percent of characters on television exhibit a disability and only 0.5 percent are allowed to speak."

Say it isn't so!

"TBTB needs to get the reality of our rich, independent lives in front of audiences," Schambelan said.

We at [with]tv will second that remark.