A Holiday Retrospect Or So They Said
Thursday, December 21st, 2006
With the holiday season upon us and 2006 rapidly melting away, I thought this an opportune time to wish all of you a very merry holiday (whichever you celebrate) and a happy and healthy New Year.
2006 was a great year for the dis-blogs that saw increased diversity, many new voices arrive, and regrettably some old voices disappearing. But most of all there was a heightened sense of community that really came together and showed in the past year.
Rather than just post a tacky shopworn copy of a holiday e-card (like the one above) I thought that I would send the year off by dishing up a retrospective sampling of what dis-bloggers were thinking and writing about in 2006. These are just a very few of my favorites.
Enjoy! See you in 07.
On Awareness-
"but sometimes a wheelchair to the back of the head is the only way to get someone’s attention."
Disabilities Unlimited
On Comfort levels-
"Oh what JOY! To be in a room where legs looked unusual."
Wheelchair Dancer
On Shopping-
"I was so bloody tired I was determined to buy something from this shop rather than push myself round the shopping centre only to struggle with dressing acrobatics in ever smaller changing rooms that flash my arse through the curtain because it won’t close properly over a wheelchair wheel."
Fangworld
On Traveling
"Conversely, I’ve found that when I travel with my husband, it’s much harder to get anybody to listen to me. Have the gate agents just been giving me perks when traveling alone because it seems so unthinkable to them that I could possibly manage?"
Brokenclay.org/journal
On Health-
"…how do we know we are ill if we are always sick?"
Gimpy Mumpy
On Truth-
"I believe that absolute moral truth exists; I believe that there is an optimum way of making decisions, living life and running society. Only, never having entered into conversation with a burning bush, I do not have the privilege of really truly knowing that what I believe is the truth. "
Diary of Goldfish
On Walking-
"No, kids, it’s not that I haven’t learned how to walk, but that I haven’t learned how to walk without using my legs."
Down the MS Path
On Ability-
“I guess by comparison I am able to move more than many others with disabilities. But, my arms work perfectly so why the hell should it be so amazing that I can… actually… use… them?”
Disability Rants
On Reality-
"Crips, I find, are the realists in this life. They’ve had reality up the ass, as it were, and they don’t trail rosy clouds of idealism behind them."
The Meanderings of A Politically Incorrect Crip
On Accessibility-
"And no, a pat on the back or worse a pat on the head won’t make a ramp or lift magically appear."
Gordon’s D-Zone
On Activism-
“People with disabilities, as well as allies, must not be strangers to political opportunities. In fact, we must work towards becoming leaders in the larger political domain.”
Disability Studies, Temple U.
On Getting around-
"It doesn’t matter how I get there. What matters most is that I go."
Tamar Asedo Sherman from Action Online
On Caregivers-
"That doesn’t mean that training a new attendant — even a good one — is a walk in the park. Trust me when I say it’s not very easy to direct someone where to move a toothbrush in your mouth with a mouthful of toothpaste."
Winheld’s World
On Flattery-
"Just remember next time you see me you must say ‘My how you’ve lost weight!!’ and Ill smile that knowing smile and think ‘ Yep amazing what a serious problem can do for your figure!"
Keep Buggering On!!
On The C-word-
"We know full well that when we say the word crip, it will shock and startle – or at least raise eyebrows. It will grab able-bodied people’s attention and make them take notice of us. It forces able-bodied people to confront our disability. Whereas in the past able-bodied people used the word against us, we are now using it against able-bodied people."
Newstateman- Crip’s Column
On Misconceptions-
“I think it’s important that those of us who are configured in ways that tend to surprise people keep emphasizing the fact that yes, we exist.”
Processing In Parts
On Behaviour-
“It’s also about obedience deceptively, attractively, cloaked as “responsibility”. If you’re not being submissive to someone else’s wishes, then you’re “choosing” to be irresponsible even if there is no malicious intent. The punishment chosen for the transgression is tagged as self-selected and self-imposed, when it’s anything but.”
Andrea’s Buzzing ABC
If you have favorites of your own just toss them into the comments for all to enjoy.