Author: stevekuusisto

Poet, Essayist, Blogger, Journalist, Memoirist, Disability Rights Advocate, Public Speaker, Professor, Syracuse University

Oscar Pistorius, Another Gun Related Tragedy

The news that Oscar Pistorius has been charged with murder reflects what many in the US already know: that guns in the home increase the likelihood of violence. In the coming days and months we will hear all the sad facts and I predict there will be little else to say. Gun violence is all too prevalent, its carnage predictable. Guns help people kill people.  

Lessons From My Father on His Birthday

By Andrea Scarpino

  1. Celebrate. New Year’s Eve, decorating the Christmas tree, on birthdays and Mother’s Day and 4th of July. But smaller days too: my father turned garage sales into a party, ordering pizza and soda for everyone at lunch, making a trip to Graeter’s Ice Cream at the end of the day to celebrate the trinkets and ties and furniture he and my step-mother sold. When he was a teenager, he treated his cousins at the soda shop every payday.  Even a random Saturday: lunch and dinner in a restaurant, the week’s grocery shopping squeezed between. 

 

  1. Give presents. Big and small. A gingerbread house stuffed with flavored popcorn and old-fashioned candy. Teddy bears. Cards filled with exclamation points. Jewelry. When I was in college, bags of fruit and anisette cookies from the grocery store—he washed the fruit for me, divided it into plastic bags. One Christmas, with the help of a personal shopper, he bought my step-mother a leather miniskirt and motorcycle jacket. He loved that purchase—even though she returned it for something more sensible. 

 

  1. Laugh. Scream. Cry. No matter: feel life deeply. When my father was angry, everyone knew it—he and my grandmother once threw eggplants at each other in an argument. When he was sad, everyone knew it—the one time I remember being spanked by him (for being mean to my grandmother), he felt so badly that he woke me in the night to apologize and let me come sleep with him. When he was happy, everyone knew it: he laughed wildly, grasped your hand. 

 

  1. Get out into the world. Experience it: amusement parks, zoos, colonial forts, strawberry picking, ice skating, trips through China and South Africa, to Hadrian’s Wall, the Vatican, to Bed and Breakfasts just miles from his house, riverboat casinos, parks, museums, antique stores, walks around the neighborhood. The world is huge: go experience it. 

 

  1. Work hard. Rest when you can. Listen to the radio. Watch crazy sci-fi on PBS when you can’t sleep. Be kind. Be generous. Help others when you can. Run like hell—always save yourself. Hold grudges when need be. Always speak to children. Give up your seat for a person who needs it more. Fill your home with sweets: flowers, diet soda, miniature candy bars, good tea. Sing every chance you get, no matter how terribly. Read daily. Support political candidates. Make people angry. Be vigilant about doctor’s visits. Use the car horn frequently. Always say yes to Parmesan cheese.  

A Diverse And Socially Inclusive America Needs To Share Its Story

(U.S. Department of State)
February 12, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC– [Excerpt provided by Inclusion Daily Express] Diversity is our strength, and everyone, including persons with disabilities, has important contributions to make.

That was one of the overarching messages at the 10th Special Olympics 2013 World Winter Games in South Korea this month, where athletes Tae Hemsath and Henry Meece — born in South Korea with developmental disabilities — returned to their birth country as Special Olympics athletes. Tae competed as a snowshoe racer, Henry as a snowboarder.

That same message resonated today throughout a public forum, where participants at Gallaudet University came to learn about opportunities in international exchange for persons with disabilities, and for members of the deaf community.

The audience was moved by the words and experiences of speakers, including U.S. Representative Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a former Army helicopter pilot who lost her legs in Iraq; T. Alan Hurwitz, President of Gallaudet and recipient of the DeafNation Inspiration Award for Higher Education in 2012; and Dr. Christie L. Gilson, a Fulbright alumna who is the first blind member of the Fulbright Board.

Our message of disability inclusion is central to telling America’s story, because we believe that no story can be complete — and no challenges fully addressed — without everyone’s full involvement. Inclusion isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s the smart thing to do.

Entire article:
A Diverse and Socially Inclusive America Needs to Share Its Story
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/inclusive_america_story

Why Do Banks Still Lag In Basic Service To Blind Customers?

(Pocono Record)
February 12, 2013

STROUDSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA– [Excerpt provided by Inclusion Daily Express] Surely banks could have done better in making their automated teller machines accessible to the blind.

It seems like a natural: keypads with Braille, audio prompts and the like. And advocates for the seeing-impaired have been working with the industry since 1999 to provide just such adaptations.

So why does it take a series of costly federal lawsuits to force banks to comply with changes they agreed years ago were needed?

Advocates for the blind and sight-impaired have filed 146 cases since December against banks in Pennsylvania New Jersey, Ohio and Texas, calling for them to come into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act by making all their ATMs, which are considered a public accommodation, accessible to the blind. Among the affected banks in the Pocono region are Honesdale Bank, Citizens, PNC, US Bank, Sovereign Bank, M&T Bank, First Niagara and BB&T. About 60 cases have been settled.

The National Federation of the Blind began discussions with ATM manufacturers and the banking industry as early as 1999 to define ATM accessibility for the blind. Some of the larger banks, including Bank of America, began making the accommodations right away. Still, 14 years later, many ATMs don’t have tactile cues on their keypads, Braille instructions an audible component with a screen over the shield to ensure privacy.

Entire article:
Banks lag in basic service to the blind
http://tinyurl.com/ide0212134

ADAPT And NCIL Call For Representation On Long Term Care Commission

(ADAPT)
February 12, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC– [Excerpt provided by Inclusion Daily Express] A state administrator, nursing home administrator and economist . . .

This sounds like a setup for a joke, but it isn’t a laughing matter.

These are the final three Congressional appointments for the Long Term Care Commission.

So far, a dozen people have been appointed. These include doctors, policy experts, a union leader, and a couple nursing facility/assisted living representatives. A number have expertise in aging services.

None represent the disability community.

None use attendant services.

None represent the point of view that this is a civil rights issue.

Entire article:
A state administrator, nursing home administrator and economist
http://www.dimenet.com/hotnews/archive.php?mode=A&id=7634;&sort=D
Related
Demand that the Long Term Care Commission include representatives from ADAPT and NCIL!
http://capwiz.com/rochestercdr/issues/alert/?alertid=62384551

Lia Purpura Interviews Stephen Kuusisto

Attendant Surprise: An Interview with Stephen Kuusisto

By Lia Purpura (originally published in The Georgia Review)

This interview took place at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland, on 8 November 2007, before Kuusisto read as part of the Modern Masters Reading Series.  I had just finished Eavesdropping and was renewed by Steve’s approach to the memoir; to my mind, he had created a form that was fresh, lyrical, and flexible enough to move deftly through well-built scenes without sacrificing an essentially poetic stance.  Although his approach to memoir in Eavesdropping is not wholly unlike that of Planet of the Blind, I felt that in some profound ways Steve had advanced and deepened the form. When Steve arrived at Loyola on 7 November, our informal conversation took flight as we traded enthusiasms for new books we had read, talked about teaching at the University of Iowa and elsewhere, and discussed the dual-genre life we share as poet-essayists.   Read on…

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Professor Stephen Kuusisto is the author of “Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening” and the acclaimed memoir “Planet of the Blind”, a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year”. His second collection of poems from Copper Canyon Press, “Letters to Borges“, is scheduled for release in February 2013.  He is currently working on a book tentatively titled What a Dog Can Do.  Steve speaks widely on diversity, disability, education, and public policy. www.stephenkuusisto.com, www.planet-of-the-blind.com