#TheShortBus Flashblog: Notes from a Short Bus Veteran

From the day my mother put me on a bus to a "special needs" preschool at three years old to the day I graduated high school, I rode the short bus.  While my older sister walked down the block to the bus stop, I got door to door service, for fifteen years.  Even now, I use paratransit,...

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On World CP Day

It's World Cerebral Palsy Day.  Unfortunately, the day snuck up on me this year, so I didn't have time to do a slideshow as I have in past years.  You all will have to content yourselves with a post instead. I have CP.  (Or I'm a Ceep, but sadly that term has yet to catch on in mainstream...

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An Open Letter to The Jekyll and Hyde Club in Times Square, NYC

To Whom It May Concern at the Jekyll and Hyde Club, Times Square, New York City, Yesterday, (July 31st, 2014) I attempted to dine at your establishment with four friends.  I had heard good things about Jekyll and Hyde and thought it would be a treat, especially since one of my friends was coming from out of town and we were searching for tourist attractions.  I was disappointed and appalled...

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The Power of Choices

When I go to a movie theater using my chair or walker, or when I go with wheelchair using friends, we usually can only sit in three or four different spots.  In smaller movie theaters, there is often only one spot that can accommodate a wheelchair user, resulting in an awkward dance of politeness or perhaps a duel to the death when - god forbid - there's more than one wheelchair user wanting...

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The Trouble With Ableist Metaphors

"I was blind to the consequences." "You need to learn how to stand up for yourself." "Her pleas fell on deaf ears." I'm not usually one to language police other people.  There are a few terms that I absolutely despise (such as the r-word or "wheelchair bound") that I will usually make a fuss over.  Then there are terms like "handicapped" or "special needs" that make my skin crawl, but...

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Find Out What It Means to Me

When I was being forced out of the education program at my school the spring before last, during a two hour meeting with both my adviser for the field experience portion of the program and my overall adviser, I was told, among many other things, that I was, and I quote:  "on the verge of being disrespectful to two women in this room who have PhDs in Education". Disrespectful!  They were...

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#YesAllWomen: The Life and Times of a Vulnerable Woman

I am a vulnerable woman. I don't like saying that.  I prefer to think of myself as able to handle anything that comes at me, and someone who does most of the normal things a 21 (almost 22) year old woman would do.  Vulnerable conjures up images of needing to be protected.  I don't need to be protected, or so I say. But facts are facts, and the fact is that I am a visibly disabled...

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One Year Ago: What Ableism Didn't Do

(This is my second post for Blogging Against Disablism Day (BADD).  It's a follow-up to my post last year - you don't have to read the post from last year for this one to make sense, but it might be a good idea.) One year ago. That's how long it's been. One year ago I stood shaking from...

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Disability Is Not Your Get Out of Jail Free Card

(This is my first post for Blogging Against Disablism Day (BADD).  Also known as "this will be my BADD post if I wake up tomorrow and don't have the spoons to write the one I plan to write.) There's a post that popped up today from a fairly well-known "autism parent" that talks about closed groups...

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I Am My Wheelchair and My Wheelchair Is Me

Today, a close friend called me with somewhat of an emergency.  Her wheelchair had suddenly given up the ghost, she didn't have a backup, and could she please borrow my scooter for a few days? I, of course, said yes. I have my new powerchair if I need it, and as any plans I may have had were derailed smoothly by a bout of the chicken pox, I wasn't planning on needing either my chair or my scooter...

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Rise Up While You Can - My Speech for the 2014 Day Of Mourning: Remembering People With Disabilities Murdered by Caregivers

This is my speech that I read yesterday, March 1st 2014, at the NYC Vigil for People With Disabilities Murdered by Family/Caregivers.  For more information about the Day of Mourning please go to http://autisticadvocacy.org/2014/02/day-of-mourning-2014-2/.Hello everyone and welcome to the New York City Vigil for People With Disabilities Murdered by Parents and Caregivers. I’m Cara, the...

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What To Do When You Meet An Able-Bodied Person

Inspired by What To Do When You Meet a Sighted Person People who have an extreme amount of energy, experience lower than normal levels of pain (or only feel acute pain), and move through the world on two legs are classified under the umbrella term "able-bodied".  The defining characteristic of an able-bodied person is that they are essentially bipedal for most of their daily activities, though...

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No, I Won't Stop Calling Myself a Cripple (And Here's Why)

Over the years, I've faced a lot of backlash for choosing to call myself a cripple.  I've had people flinch every time I say it.  I've had people try to convince me to use all sorts of alternatives.  I've had people act like the word was a personal insult to them.  To them, mind you.  Not to me. And here's where we get into the root of the problem of language policing: When...

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Ed Roberts: The Civil Rights Leader That Time Forgot

Within earshot, my mother asked the doctor whether I would live or die. "You should hope he dies, because if he lives, he'll be no more than a vegetable for the rest of his life. How would you like to live in an iron lung 24 hours a day?" So I decided to be an artichoke...a little prickly on the outside but with a big heart. You know, the vegetables of the world are uniting, and we're not going...

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Explaining Inspiration Porn to Non-Disabled People

Author's note:  This was inspired by Explaining Rape Culture to Men (Hilariously).  It is set up in Q and A format, with a non-disabled person as the questioner and a disabled person as the answerer/explainer. I'm graduating!  While disabled!  You still don't get to call me inspirational! [Image...

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Why Keeping Guns Away from the "Mentally Ill" Won't Solve the Gun Violence Problem

Author's note:  This post was edited slightly from the original to remove references to gender dysphoria being in the DSM.  I now know that many trans* people feel it is a good thing and allows them to seek treatment.  They do feel that transness is a medical condition.  Therefore, I have "checked my privilege", so to speak, and removed the references. Today, two people were...

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