Lulu Update
It’s been a while since we’ve talked about ourselves. Four things.
One. We’ve got a new front page. It’s still a little janky but should be looking amazing-ish soon.
Two. We’ve got stickers. Want some? Contact us.
Next. Check out the prototype for the Lulu bags, below – sewn by none other than my (Toshio’s) mom. We’ll be posting how you can win one of these sweet, sweet stuff-receptacles in a few weeks.
Are your pants still dry? Also coming soon: our first video review.
Posted by Toshio on July 28th, 2010.
ASL Invades Space
Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson made the first sign language transmission from space last week.
Dyson’s not deaf, but I looked into it – it seems you can have a hearing impairment and be a NASA astronaut, although other disabilities like a height or visual impairment would count you out.
Sign language actually makes perfect sense as a universal spatial language, because humans can’t hear in space.
Dyson had a bigger message to convey, saying, “Ultimately, this isn’t really about me learning or knowing ASL. This story should be an avenue for deaf students – from children in kindergarten to college undergraduates to doctoral candidates – to see themselves belonging to this amazing thing called NASA and participating in scientific research and space exploration.”
(If you don’t speak ASL, switch on YouTube’s closed captioning for the written translation.)
via Media dis&dat
Posted by Toshio on July 28th, 2010.
A Little Rain on the ADA’s 20th Birthday
The Americans with Disabilities Act is one of the most important pieces of legislation against discrimination – whether you’re disabled or not – ever. And it turns 20 tomorrow. Hurray.
Here’s the “rain” part: Just look at a few of Where’s Lulu’s reviews and you’ll recognize that there’s so very far to go when it comes to compliance and enforcement of the ADA. And as a depressing yet illustrative (and often hilarious) reminder on how far we have to go as concerns discrimination, I submit these videos released over the Act’s 20th year:
- Bridezillas. An able-bodied nightmare = reality TV gold.
- Bad Cop, No Donut. Click here to see cops breaking the law at the expense of disabled drivers. Gotta get that donut!
- Dear God: Why, oh why did you make people disabled?
- On that ‘inspiring’ baby cochlear implant video. “Curing” deafness elicits tears of ableist joy.
- An Autism Organization that Loathes Autistic People. Autism: Scarier than Halloween.
Posted by Toshio on July 25th, 2010.
Wayne Newton is Not “Deaf, Dumb, and Blind”
I can’t name a single Wayne Newton song, but I’ve seen his cosmetic surgery face plenty of times on various VH1 listy shows, and it’s off the charts.
Wayne’s face recently went on Fox News and spoke in support of Nevada Senator Harry Reid, saying, “Anybody would be deaf, dumb, and blind to think that the second most powerful man in our nation, in terms of politics, should be replaced with someone else. Harry Reid is the best man I know for the job.”
Knowing about politics, and having hearing, speech, and visual impairments? MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE.
This, from a man who said he was concerned about language used by President Obama, when the President famously shit-talked Vegas in a speech on the economy: “When times are tough, you tighten your belts… You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices.”
Newton said Obama’s “flippant statement had really incredible ramifications.” Vegas’s tourism has been hard hit by the recession, and negative remarks from Obama weren’t going to make the situation any better.
Since most don’t people care what Wayne Newton has to say, I don’t see any “incredible ramifications” forthcoming, but his “flippant statement” is itself pretty dumb.
Posted by Toshio on July 21st, 2010.
Safe2Pee: Bathrooms for Everyone
The concept behind Safe2pee is sort of like Where’s Lulu’s, but it’s specifically focused on bathrooms. It was started so trans people can find gender neutral bathrooms in towns around the country, Canada, and Mexico. The site allows anyone to rate bathrooms based on disability criteria, too.
The ratings don’t give the full monty on disability friendliness, but they’re a start, especially until Where’s Lulu’s database gets complete-r.
Posted by Toshio on July 20th, 2010.
The Merman/Mermaid Conversion Kit for Amputees
Posted by Lulu on July 15th, 2010.
All Accessibility Fail, All the Time
While FailBlog occasionally gives us an opportunity to laugh till we cry at the barriers disabled people face on the daily (see our favorite here), since 2009 there’s been a reliable source exclusively focused on accessibility fails, aptly titled Accessibility Fail.
A recent winner:
…a national chain of hearing aid providers here in the UK has a special club you can join to get hearing aid batteries for half price. How do you order your batteries? Why, over the phone, of course. Buckets of fail.
And they’re taking submissions. Straight from the pony’s mouth:
Have you ever been in an ‘accessible’ hotel room that had an half-inch-high curb at the threshold? Ever been caught in a 22″ wide wheelchair facing down a 20″ door? Ever been assured that the allegedly-accessible route has ‘just’ one step?
Take a picture. Then post it to the community, with where you were, what you noticed, and why that place fails at accessibility. (Filing ADA violation reports can be a community bonding activity!)
Pictures aren’t necessary, and whether or not you have a picture, describe the situation as completely as you can. (That way those with visual-based disabilities can share in the mocking of the fail as well.) And if you come across someplace that does it right, please also feel free to post accessibility wins.
(All kinds of accessibility fail welcome: mobility-based, visual-based, physical-world, online-world, anything at all.)
Posted by Toshio on July 12th, 2010.
Oscar’s New Feet
A British cat named Oscar was just fitted with some state-of-the-art prosthetic feet. Nice. But I have to disagree with the doctor who handled his case…ain’t no shame in having brown feet when you’re a black cat.
(via Media dis&dat)
Posted by Toshio on July 10th, 2010.
Pity is as Pity Does
On Sunday, The New York Times ran a story on Brendan Marrocco, whose arms and legs were amputated after a bomb exploded under his armored army vehicle in Iraq. I was at a friend’s housewarming-slash-Fourth of July barbecue, and overheard another guest mention that she was depressed because she’d just read the article. “I need a drink,” she announced.
It turns out depression wasn’t the only thing she was suffering from – she had an unhealthy case of the ableisms as well. Though it focuses a lot on the grief of Marrocco’s parents and the violent incident that caused his disability, I found the Times article to actually be semi-disability positive (or at least not wholly disability negative, the way stories involving soldier amputations tend to be). This is in large part because Iraq’s first surviving quadruple amputee veteran is pretty positive about his disability.
Marroco’s got a decent sense of humor, calling other soldiers “with below-the-knee amputations ‘the paper cuts,’” and joking about all the legroom he has on plane flights. His mom, who seems to have a lot more of a problem with his disability than Brendan himself does, recalls him mentioning that “it would have been really nice if they left me even one hand,” but the aspect of his new disabled life he finds most irritating is the pity from people like the woman at my friend’s party.
His family tries to coax him out of his Walter Reed fortress for more trips to shopping malls, restaurants and sporting events. But he finds such outings draining and awkward. People stare, or look away. They ramble, not knowing what to say. “I just tell them I got blown up,” he shrugged. “I don’t like it, but I can’t do anything about it. I just pretend they are not looking.”
His mother was more direct: “He hates it. He absolutely hates it.”
You can read the full article here.
Posted by Toshio on July 7th, 2010.
Fully sick rapper is back y’all
Posted by Lulu on July 7th, 2010.
