Disability Blog Carnival # 17: Laughter, The Best Medicine

About a week ago Steve wrote a post titled of Comedy and Disability as a means of introducing this Disability Blog Carnival.  The theme we chose is "Laughter, The Best Medicine", borrowed from the column with the same name in The Reader’s Digest Magazine.   

Simply put, we felt we needed to laugh.  Things had gotten much too serious around the Kuusisto household and we figured we might not be alone in that regard.  No sooner had we made this decision when, coincidentally I think, Penny wrote a post inspired by her young daughter called Call the people at Marvel Comics… posted at Disability Studies, Temple U.  My hubby Steve was delighted by this post and couldn’t help but add his thoughts.  We felt we were off to a good start.  We hope you’ll agree.  More importantly, we hope you find reason to laugh.  We sure have thanks to all these wonderful contributions…

Steve nor I had ever met the Queen Mediocretia* of Suburbia until now.  Check her out if you haven’t yet – much of what she writes about is funny.  In her post Prelude to Insanity, the
"Queen" talks about the typically  not-so-funny colonoscopy she
underwent when her "digestion went south".  You’ll be amused I’m sure,
but not as much as you will be when you read this post about "the
adventures of Colin".  Go ahead – try to hold it in.  Your laughter that is!

The challenge: what would be the MOST inconvenient combination of garments to
wear for a blood draw?  It’s One of life’s eternal mysteries being pondered at The Perorations of Lady Bracknell.

Speaking of what to wear Claire, in her blog The Crooked Truth, let’s us inside her head as the left side of her brain debates with the right side Here’s why: I can’t wear a onesie.

Here’s a funny kid, *and* a parent who can see the humor in his antics at Kellen’s How to Guide: Fun with Assessments post at Reimer Reason.

Warning Earthlings: Mark from The 19th Floor is making "plans to achieve world domination".  All he needs is a wheelchair like this described in What All The Suburban Gimps Will Soon Be Driving.  And in this post, Mistaken Identity, Mark
and his sister "quickly looked away before either one of us began to
laugh mercilessly at this woman’s magnificent cluelessness."
Magnificent indeed.  An admirer of Mark’s writing submitted this post
saying "Even when Mark Siegel is trying to be cranky, he’s still funny,
in that Minnesota kinda way. 

Here is a new blog we discovered thanks to pilgrimgirl and her Disability Blog Carnival *event*.  It’s called Bums & Bellybuttons: The View From Here.
The subtitle is "Life among butt cracks and belt loops."  I can’t help
it – the name of this blog just makes me laugh.  Let’s hope that by the
time we publish this carnival Laura will have come up with a post she
wants to submit.  Otherwise we’ll just have to grin and giggle over the
title of her blog!

We *met* Andrea at pilgrimgirls’ place also.   One of the many things that Andrea’s Buzzing About is the Top Ten Things About Having Faceblindness (Prosopagnosia).  Here’s  the first:

1. You save a fortune not buying celebrity magazines because you have no idea who is™s in all those pictures.

A M Baggs presents How to Boil Water the EASY Way posted at Ballastexistenz.  As Penny put it, "this is a humorous-but-serious video by Amanda".

You’ll laugh, and cheer, this great post by Lisa F. as she cries Help! I’m crying cuz I can’t see the internet! posted at Twinkle Little Star.

Liz is thinking about aging, and perfection, and body image here… The Trouble With Spikol: Print Edition: Age Marks the Spot posted at The Trouble With Spikol.

Here’s a mom with enough sense of humor to have a "Dude, Where’s my Arm?" t-shirt for
her baby daughter (who has a prosthetic arm), and to find comedy in the awkward
comments made by strangers in Subtle staring posted at Born Just Right.

Dave means it when he says (and yes, I think he may have felt like YELLING):

"NOTICE: DISABLED PEOPLE DO NOT NEED PERMISSION FROM ANYONE TO LAUGH AT
OURSELVES OR OUR DISABILITIES. AND, AND, AND CRIPPLED IS MY WORD, NOT
YOURS. YOU’VE HAD IT LONG ENOUGH, IT’S OURS NOW."

Yep.  I think Dave’s a little "upset".  And rightly so.  Read Funny HAHA posted at Chewing The Fat.

Lori’s taking inspiration from Paul Simon in her post There Must Be Fifty Ways to Leave Your District by Lori Miller Fox posted at Special Education Law Blog.  As Neil Sedaka might add, "Breaking Up is Hard to Do…"

Falling isn’t funny, and an out-of-service elevator isn’t funny, but Sara’s post
about them is entertaining–and includes a song a la Cole  Porter!  Introducing Hubris and the Single Girl* at Moving Right Along.

Even God is sometimes amused by lilwatchergirl according to this post…Developments, hydrotherapy, all that stuff posted at Through Myself and Back Again. 

Zephyr’s got some good reasons why she doesn’t live in an accessible
building–and she’s, ah, specific about them, in this post: TopChair: The First Stair-Climbing Wheelchair posted at Arthritic Young Thing.  (Parental discretion advised!)  And clearly Zephyr was not in a laughing mood when she submitted this post: Things Caretakers Do That Bug the Hell Out of Me.  Who can blame her?

Josh, over at Winheld’s World took advantage of the opportunity to catch a comedy show featuring  Josh Blue.  In his post Feeling Blue Josh tells us 

"Comedian Josh Blue (see video clip) shows that there’s nothing wrong with laughing at yourself —
even if you have a disability. Blue, who won NBC’s "Last Comic Standing" in 2006, has cerebral palsy, which he incorporates into his brand of humor."

Speaking of comics "standing", have you heard of the GOJO Campaign yet?  Scott Rains of the
Rolling Rains Report has a nice summary  of the campaign in his post GOJO – Get on the Bus! part of which I’ve copied here:

"Get out and use public transit!

That’s the message of the GOJO Campaign run by the UK’s Disability Rights Commission (DRC),

At the centre of the campaign is the GOJO website – at www.mygojo.co.uk
– which will provide practical tips to increase young people’s
confidence travelling on public transport and information on special
leisure deals and how to travel there. The site will also include
information on rights and how to make a complaint if young disabled
people feel they may have been discriminated against under the DDA.

To drive young people to the site, comedians from Abnormally Funny
People are performing ‘stand up’ comedy gigs on buses in five cities
across the country with clips from the films posted on the internet."

We
received and e-mail from the folks at GOJO not too long ago telling us
of the "comedy clips" posted on the GOJO web site (via YouTube).  But
here’s the thing:  call me old fashioned, but I’m not sure I’d be too
happy being a captive audience on a bus and being surprised by this
stand-up routine.  Forgive me, but it has nothing to do with this young
lady personally – I wouldn’t care if she was Halle Berry – I’m not
interested in hearing "what happens when the stuff grows back" – not in
this venue anyway.  In a comedy club with a drink in my hand, maybe.
Is it just me?  In any event, these comedians are funny, each in his or her own way.

Finally, there is no point in hosting a carnival about humor with out including Kay’s posts and photos about "Things that crack me up" at The Gimp Parade.  Here’s just one that makes me chuckle: 

Kay wrote 

"The Gimp Parade is the ninth Google result for the search:
replacement parts for older japanese vacuums
Because, you know, that’s what I’m all about."

Yes, we know that about you Kay!  Hmmm.   

(In keeping with the Carnival philosophy in that all disability related posts are welcome despite the theme of the carnival) A freelance writer mother realizes how much her husband contributes to their
Down syndrome preschool daughter’s development in this post presented to us by Leticia Velasquez: Special Needs Dads posted at cause of our joy.

When ideology overrides human rights: Romeo Vitelli presents The Leilani Muir Case posted at Providentia.

And here is another "Penny Richards presents":  Wheelchair boxing: think it’s a ‘freak show?’ Mind stepping a little closer… posted at Screw Bronze!.  Elizabeth is taking boxing at the Y–and completely digging it.

Ahhh, and speaking of Penny, Steve and I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for ALL the effort she puts into organizing these Disability Blog Carnivals.  While she is very good at delegating and allowing we bloggers to take turns and host these events, we have a sneaking suspicion she’s often busy behind the scenes.  She’s certainly supported us in our efforts.   Thank you  Penny.

In closing we would like to take this opportunity to introduce a brand new blog, one we think you will all be interested in exploring.  It’s called [with]tv and the folks there are looking for our ideas and support.  [with]tv is a "television channel of, by, and for people with disabilities…and everyone else" currently under development.  To learn more…

Thank you for stopping by!  We hope you enjoyed reading these entries as much as we have.  It is our understanding the next Carnival will be hosted by Retired Waif on July 12.  See you then!