Ableism

Remember this?

Trump mocking a reporter. His behavior was inappropriate. His excuse? I was just being funny. Millions in this country still think this is ok. 

A form of discrimination

From Ableism 101 by Ashley Eisenmenger, accessliving.org:

Ableism is the discrimination of and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior. At its heart, ableism is rooted in the assumption that disabled people require ‘fixing’ and defines people by their disability. Like racism and sexism, ableism classifies entire groups of people as ‘less than,’ and includes harmful stereotypes, misconceptions, and generalizations of people with disabilities.

What form does Ableism take? 

Again, from Ableism 101:

• Lack of compliance with disability rights laws like the ADA
• Segregating students with disabilities into separate schools
• The use of restraint or seclusion as a means of controlling students with disabilities
• Segregating adults and children with disabilities in institutions
• Failing to incorporate accessibility into building design plans
• Buildings without braille on signs, elevator buttons, etc.
• Building inaccessible websites
• The assumption that people with disabilities want or need to be ‘fixed’
• Using disability as a punchline, or mocking people with disabilities
• Refusing to provide reasonable accommodations
• The eugenics movement of the early 1900s
• The mass murder of disabled people in Nazi Germany

I've jumped to major aggressions with major consequences, but there are everyday micro-aggressions. Many of them are part of how we interact with people through the language we use, including people in authority.

• “That’s so lame.”
• “He/she seems retarded.”
• "Is he/she slow?"
• "Is there something off about him/her?"
• “That guy is crazy.”
• “You’re acting so bi-polar today.”
• “Are you off your meds?”
• “It’s like the blind leading the blind.”
• “My ideas fell on deaf ears.”
• “She’s such a psycho.”
• “I’m super OCD about how I clean my apartment.”
• “Can I pray for you?”
• “I don’t even think of you as disabled.”

Phrases like this imply that a disability makes a person less than, and that disability is bad, negative, a problem to be fixed, rather than a normal, inevitable part of the human experience.

Many people don’t mean to be insulting, and a lot have good intentions, but even well-meant comments and actions can take a serious toll on their recipients. (Ableism 101)

Turning Around the Micro-Aggressions

According to Rakshitha Arni Ravishankar writing for the Harvard business review in 2020, ableist language largely influences us in three ways:

1. It reveals our unconscious bias.
2. It makes us internalize harmful bias about disability. 
3. It stigmatizes already marginalize people.

Ravishankar suggests we can start with a conscious effort to improve our vocabulary.

Acknowledge the disability around us. More than one billion people worldwide, around 15% of the population, have some type of disability. People with disabilities make up a quarter of the U.S. population. Pro-tip: Don’t try to fix disability; instead fix the oppression.

Learn! Listen more than we talk. become aware of our own biases — many of which we’ve picked up from the people we’ve met, the experiences we’ve had, and the media we’ve consumed throughout our lives — is the first step to educating ourselves. Our biases are learned behavior. That means we can learn new behaviors. Pro-tip: Educate yourself, and don’t rely on others to teach you.

Don't make assumptions about someone's identity.  Focus on the fact that people with disabilities are first and foremost, just people. An example of this would be saying “a person with a disability” instead of “a disabled person.” Pro-tip: Golden rule is: When you’re unsure of someone’s identity, just ask.

When you make a mistake, genuinely apologize. Saying something like, I'm sorry if what I said may have hurt you is not an apology. Pro tip: This isn’t about your opinions; it’s about how the other person feels.

I remember mom saying, "Watch what you say," and "Keep a civil tongue in your head." The rebukes may have stung a little, but she was right. I hope part of what she was trying to teach me stuck.

People With Learning Disabilities and the ‘System.’

jaikishan patel

There's got to be a better way

 

According to federal data analyzed by the Center for Public Integrity, students with disabilities, Black children and on some campuses, Native American and Latino children, have been disproportionately impacted by policing in schools. Leading San Diego County in law enforcement referrals were schools that serve students with behavioral or other special needs — including those who have already encountered the juvenile court system.

 

Nationwide, nearly 230,000 students were reported to law enforcement during the 2017-18 school year, the most recent data available. Black children and students with disabilities were referred at nearly twice their share of the overall student population.   (Center for Public Integrity and USA TODAY and CBS8

 

The subject of the CBS8 report was 13-year-old Joshua Savala. Savala, who went to school in San Diego, is on the autism spectrum. He was often bullied at school.   

 

“A quiet kid with autism, he struggled to be accepted by some of his peers at Lakeside Middle School — so much so that his mother says they reported 16 bullying incidents in one year.” 

 

“The last time, a student pushed Joshua from behind, causing him to fall and hit his head on concrete. He traveled to a children’s hospital in an ambulance that his mother called after he later complained of neck pain.”

 

“Other kids told school officials that Joshua made a verbal threat to “shoot up” the campus after the assault. Joshua denies the claim. Lakeside Middle reported him to police, anyway.”

 

He ended up in the system.

 

“According to the statistics the San Diego Unified School District, Black students comprised about 8% of enrollment but made up nearly 19% of referrals. Students with disabilities made up more than 30% of referrals but only 14% of the population.  

 

The bulk of the district’s alternative schools reported rates more than 20 times the national average.”  (CBS8)

A Better Future?

 

The police should not be expected to take on the full load of responsibility for these situations. The schools bear responsibility for keeping everybody safe. That does not mean the police are exempt. Here’s what one police force in Great Britain is doing.

South Yorkshire Police is committed to becoming more accessible to those with autism as part of our journey to being a recognized ‘Autism Friendly’ organization.

There are many people affected by autism across South Yorkshire.

Protecting those who are vulnerable is a force priority, and we want to ensure we can adequately meet the needs of those people who may benefit from additional support in their interactions with us.

So far as a force we have:

• Introduced Autism Alert Cards, enabling police and other emergency services to communicate with autistic residents more effectively and helping those on the autism spectrum feel more comfortable in what could potentially be an extremely stressful situation.
• Provide ‘passports’, a document you can show to people that explains your communication styles and presentations, for situations such as travel hubs or shopping malls where it may not be the police you need.
• Introduced fidget cubes and widgets - easy to read materials to explain what will happen - in custody suites, to help reduce anxiety.
• Installed autism single points of contact or ‘SPOCS’ in all districts who are able to provide specialist knowledge and support to people across the force.
• A regular presence on Local Authority Autism Boards.
• Provided Autism Awareness training across the force to front line staff and staff in custody, enquiry desk and call handler roles.
• Continue to work with NAS and Autism & Learning Disability NHS Teams on projects to improve outcomes for those that have contact with the Criminal Justice System.

Autism Alert Cards are available to anyone of any age, if they are able to provide us with a copy of their formal diagnosis from their GP, information that they are awaiting a diagnosis or similar and a passport sized photo. The cards are free.

I did not address what happens when the learning-disabled age out of the system and become adults.  In a survey of 18,185 inmates in state and federal correctional facilities, researchers found that the prevalence of disability was significantly higher than the non-institutionalized population, finding that 41% of inmates reported having a disability. Learning disabilities were the most commonly reported disability.

Information on the Prevalence of Learning Disabilities in the ...

https://jjeducationblueprint.org › examples › information

 

 

 

 

Character

 

How do you measure success? Is success measured, in part, by your character? Is your character how others measure you?

The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.

- Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014)

Reclaiming Patriotism

It's not about taking America back

Moving toward an inclusive future.

Voice of the day (Sojourners) In Beloved Community, radically inclusive and resilient love is the norm. It is a community in which we are constantly seeking to build and restore right relationships. - Adam Russell Taylor, A More Perfect Union (2021) I remember a debate we had in college. It was about the Vietnam War. Was it a test of our patriotism to blindly accept the justification for the war? If I was opposed to the war because of racism toward Asians and African Americans. was I unpatriotic? Or was I the patriotic one who believed in the ideals expressed at our founding, that all of us are created equal. Dr. King had expressed his opposition to the war just a few years earlier. "On 4 April 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his seminal speech at Riverside Church condemning the Vietnam War. Declaring “my conscience leaves me no other choice,” King described the war’s deleterious effects on both America’s poor and Vietnamese peasants and insisted that it was morally imperative for the United States to take radical steps to halt the war through nonviolent means." The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute This issue of defining patriotism has come up again during the Trump administration and the months that followed. Communities and common interests lead to progress and hope for the future. It's a really radical concept for whose who believe in the lone wolf approach. Teddy Roosevelt used to talk about rugged individualism, but then became a leading proponent of progressivism. The four major goals of the progressives were to promote the ideas of morality, economic reform , efficiency and social welfare. This country became stronger in times of need because we were able to work together, not alone. For more on Adam Russell Taylor's essay on radical love's rebuilding our country see his article, Is Redemptive Patriotism Possible? “Patriotism comes in many forms. Its most destructive, often nationalistic forms erode the very foundation upon which the Beloved Community is built and suffocate efforts to form a more perfect union. Redeeming patriotism requires reframing our love for the best of America’s ideals and aspirations. It requires understanding that the right to critique America is part of the brilliance of America. … Redeeming patriotism requires greater willingness to have courageous and civil conversations about the very ideals that make us love America. It refuses pointless arguments over who loves America more. As a result, redeeming patriotism represents a vital part of creating the atmosphere in which a more perfect union and the Beloved Community can breathe.” Taylor “REDEEMING PATRIOTISM REQUIRES REFRAMING OUR LOVE FOR THE BEST OF AMERICA’S IDEALS AND ASPIRATIONS.” —ADAM RUSSELL TAYLOR IN A MORE PERFECT UNION

Rational Thought Wins in California

Rational Thought Worked, This Time

According to the NY Times this morning, Governor Newsom's approach to vaccinations and COVID-19 restrictions turned out to be his strength. His approach to the virus was the reason for the recall to begin with. His opponents were loud and crude, bordering on irrational. But the word got out there that his approach based on science and reasonable thought saved his governorship.

"But Newsom’s overall approach to the pandemic helped save him."

It aligned very closely with what public-health experts were urging, including the mandates for indoor masks and vaccinations, notes Soumya Karlamangla, a Times reporter based in Los Angeles. Initially, those measures hurt Newsom’s popularity, because they were cumbersome and did not seem to be making much difference. In the spring, California’s case numbers were not so different from those in Florida or Texas.

“It feels a little like he’s the perfect example of the conundrum public health officials often face,” Soumya says. “How do you get people to do something before they can see the risk is there?”

More recently, the connection has become clearer. Vaccination rates have risen high enough in much of California — and the Delta variant is contagious enough among the unvaccinated — that the state now looks very different from much of the Southeast and Mountain West, where hundreds of people are dying each day and hospitals are running out of room.

In California, COVID caseloads and hospitalizations, which were already well below the national average, have been falling for about two weeks. “Panic levels feel much lower than they did even a month ago,” Soumya says."  NY Times

Only One Battle

Attacks on rationality and truth are not over. A lie on the internet spreads so rapidly, it is hard to counter the forces behind it. The radical fringes in this country understand this all too well. So do the Russians. 

I saw a US Senator on PBS NewsHour repeat falsehoods and distortions over and over last night, while dodging substantive questions. It makes me wonder why he wasn't called out. If, as a journalist, you think you shouldn't have to challenge responses like his because it's just your job to present the interview, please rethink your stance, or find a different line of work.

9/11 Remembered

 

Everything Changed

I was in Baltimore the day of the attack. It was feared Baltimore was going to be a target. There were military helicopter warships, patrolling the skies above the harbor.

We were there for a public radio conference. I went to my room to call the station and told them to stay with coverage until further notice and cancel all underwriting credits.

While I was talking with my news director I saw people on TV jump and the collapsing building. I heard his reaction. I was dumbstruck. I spent another hour on the phone calling family to tell them I was okay and ask how they were doing.

I remember wanting to be back with my family. I was safe, but unsure how we would get back. All flights were canceled. There were no cars to rent. No bus seats available. Fortunately, my boss and I were on a packed Amtrak train the next day. 

As we passed the destruction in New York, the train went silent. The full impact of the destruction and death stunned all of us. 

Earlier on that day we were discussing paradigm shifts. The Great Depression and World Wars. They came with every generation. Our conversation was interrupted by the announcement of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. Nothing has been the same since. The events of that day define paradigm shift.

2001 - Terrorist attacks kills a total of 2,751 victims confirmed to have died in the initial attacks.

2008 - Economic collapse - The Great Recession

2016 - Trump Election - Democracy under attack

2019 - Worldwide Pandemic - Failure of leadership

2020 Electoral process attacked through lies and disinformation (The Big Lie)

Jan 6 2021 - Domestic terrorists attack the capitol in order to overthrow the election.

An event that should have brought us together...instead, we're a deeply divided country.