Carnival #12

I'd like to welcome you to the 12th edition of the Disability Blog Carnival. Thank you for coming! I hope that the many excellent submissions we have in this edition inspire as much thought in our readers as they did in me. The topic for this edition was "Disability and Culture".

Crip Culture

What is disability culture? Steve Kuusisto explores this question in Porcupines. This older post of Marmite Boy's also discusses Crip Culture. I highly recommend reading through the comments for a lively discussion of the topic.

Mark parodies the illogical splits in disability culture in Its Capital is Cripoplis. Steve Kuusisto takes a more serious look at them in School Controversy In Columbus.

NTs are Weird details six common fallacies in Disability Community Annoyances.

Assistive Technology in Cultural Context

Andrea explores the cultural differences between luxuries and necessities in "Cyborg Cool" Versus "Crip Pity".

Robert draws a vivid picture of children's easy acceptance of speech technology in Coffee Talk, while Ballastexistenz explains how "adult" cultural disapproval of speech devices hampers many people with autism in their attempts to communicate efficiently in The Real Barrier to Communication.

Lisa turns popular thinking about wheelchairs and what is embarrassing upside down in, Sometimes, I Wonder How Walkies Survive.

Joseph Shapiro wrote a brief history of Quickie and its political fallout in How a Woman Re-invented the Wheelchair.

Accessibility, Customer Service, and Plain Old Politeness

Sandy Clark posts about the heart of accessibility in LA Wake Up Call.

DarrenH debates historical and cultural value vs accessibility in London's routemasters -- icon or inaccessible dinosaurs?

Brokenclay shares her experiences with poor customer service in So demanding, or, what I want in a hotel.

Dave Hingsburger laments the modern day's diminished courtesy in Miss Manners.

Ranter expounds on Disability Dos and Don'ts.

Jules shares his experiences with discourtesy in Disability Soapbox. Ruth offers her own experiences in Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?

Zephyr presents her perspective on access to religous ritual and the joy of courteous able bodied friends in The Maiden Goddess and Me.

Disability On Screen & Stage

Jocelyn ruminates on disability and television in The Painless help the Painful.

Karen presents Through Deaf Eyes, And Through My Own, on the perspective a good documentary can grant.

For those tired of being cast as the inspirational do gooder, The Goldfish offers a different path in Nobody does it better, makes me feel sad for the rest.

Simi Linton recounts and comments on her experiences with Lazy Comics.

David is pleasantly surprised to find seamless inclusiveness on the stage in Hope on the Carousel.

Assumptions on Quality & Value of Life With Disability

Anne C takes on both assumptions at The Future Is For Everyone (Or At Least, It Should Be).

In Please don't speak for me and Is a disabled life worth living?, Jacqui and Ryn confront head on the assumption that parents of children with disabilities must be unhappy.

At "NTs are Weird", the author writes about Murder & Caring For Someone and combats the idea of "mercy" killing someone on the basis of their presumed low quality of life.

Dave Hingsburger wrote these two great posts about quality of life and disability, each from a different perspective: Normal and The Thing.

Josh Winheld presents a view looking back on life with Duchenne's in Genetically Speaking, both the ups and downs to a group of medical students.

Who to Blame?

Marymurtz writes a deeply moving post on homelessness, mental illness, and the urge to blame the victim for his troubles in Part 3.

NTE presents #uck "Suck it up", an excellent post on how mainstream culture's health views have shifted the blame onto the impaired and off of the impairment.

Mom-NOS presents A light in the darkness, a piece on the tendency of those with impairments to assume the fault when things go wrong.

Disability and Politics

Peter Tan contributes this eye opening look at the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities from the Malaysian perspective. Stephen Concklin contributes the American perspective.

No accord for disability rights in Himachal is a well documented essay on the poor state of disability rights in Ajai Srivastava's area despite theoretical legal protections.

Stephen Pate exposes PEI's interest in sex lives of disabled.

Midlife and Treachery presents A new "spin" on supercripdom, a view into how political figures with impairment impact society's perspective on disability.

Eeka discusses a Globe editorial makes a great case for changing the name of DMR.

Miscellaneous

Wheelchair Diffusion reports on Dream Toilet For Boeing 787 Dreamliner, complete with with questions as to how the wheelchair user would get to such a toilet without their wheels.

The Assertive Cancer Patient passes on De-Pink.