Saturday Slumgullion #10

• A Canadian Dimension review of two books about mothers of children with disabilities notes the emphasis on activism and politics rather than just personal experiences. The books are Battle Cries: Justice for Kids with Special Needs by Miriam Edelson and Becoming Citizens: Family Life and the Politics of Disability by Susan Scwartzenberg.

• Michael Bérubé shares a Chicago Tribune article where Jerry Lewis compares MDA Telethon protestors to those delightful poster children of Islam -- Hezbollah.

• Nat Hentoff of The Washington Times looks back at the Schiavo case as Michael Schiavo becomes a Democratic shill for the right to die.

• Vicki at Speak Softly writes a letter to a Nameless and Shameless Physical Therapist for, well, being a professional asshat. Meanwhile, Sarahlynn at Yeah, But Houdini Didn't Have These Hips evaluates the system that declares her precocious Ellie to be "severely delayed in cognition." She finds, well, asshattery.
  

• The photojournalists' blog WarShooter features captivating pictures of "Disability in Cambodia," though the repeated use of "suffers from-" should be ignored, if possible, unless the condition following that phrase is replaced by "abject poverty."

• The current issue of Clamor magazine features a report on "The New Wartime Body" where Dennis Clarke, a doctor specializing in lower-extremity amputees and getting them prosthetics, says:

“The prosthetic industry is moving forward because of war.... War is the single driver of technology in our profession. The net effect of these young and vibrant amputees is that they are pressing forward and doing well; that makes us look good. Technology does not lead change. Need leads change, and war is good for business because it necessitates need. One could argue that as earnest an anti-war statement could be made regarding the same issues.”

• ComicFoundry features a two-part analysis by Franny Howe entitled "Dissing Abilities: The Contradiction of Disabled Superheroes." It's on the strange hero-worship of animated freakery.

Crossposted at Alas, A Blog
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