Eli Manning and Guiding Eyes for the Blind: Video

Guide Dogs at the Airport

Here’s to every guide dog in all the airports, for whom the world’s suitcases are thrilling! The man with the Green Bay Packers jersey holds a duffle, and hidden among his socks is a true German sausage, smuggled all the way from Wiesbaden. And the tall woman with the “Gibson Girl” hat, who owns a vintage clothing store in upstate, New York, she has a sachet of lavender in her tiny alligator handbag. There are too many smells! The baby with ears moistened by kisses! The nourishing smell of shoes!

I’m just trying to find my departure gate. But my dog knows everything. The security man smells like fragments of a meteor; the backpack on the conveyer says its owner just slept with a perfect stranger. My dog may, or may not know that I can’t see, but she surely understands that I’m immune to the wonders around us.

–from What a Dog Can Do

forthcoming from Simon and Schuster

Stephen Kuusisto

Humble Discoveries Upon Waking

This morning I’ve returned from the ocean without news, save that the cold eyes of the shark are the electrolysis of blood and it is an endless song.

The soul has three goblets. One holds the drink of hope; the second, forgetfulness; the third, all the sadnesses.

Jesus promised forgiveness but his cup has been stolen.

My heart beats too rapidly to live in my nation.

Here is a humble discovery: winged joys can be kissed.

I always thought Blake was being figurative.

O quixotic bird poem-thing, no one knows what in the hell we are!

Malcolm X: Our History Was Destroyed by Slavery

Archival footage of Malcolm X being interviewed by hostile white pundits. The grave negligence of history by mainstream America still reverberates, especially in this election season. Malcolm, is, of course, superb.

United Airlines Casually Violates Air Carrier Access Act, Blames Blind Man

Yesterday while flying United Airlines Flight 882 from Portland, OR to Chicago, I was given an inaccessible seat. It was the middle seat in a three seat row, where, under the seats in front of me I discovered a set of metal stanchions, which, in turn made it impossible for me to get my guide dog safely underneath the seat–hence, out of the foot space shared with other passengers. Then, the airline stuck two people on either side of me.They asked me to get up so a non-English speaking passenger could get all the way in to the window seat. I complained and said they should reseat me where I could actually sit. They in turn looked at me as if I might be some kind of half human cockroach. The airplane was a Boeing 757 which has bulkhead seats in an exit row. People with disabilities are barred from sitting in an exit row. First class was full. Under the Air Carrier Access Act, my right to fly safely and in comfort is not up for grabs. But what really bothers me, even a day later was the easy dismissal of my situation by the United flight attendants. I learned from a fellow passenger that the crew even managed to gossip about me–was I some kind of cranky man? United, your record in this area has not been good for a long time. You embarrassed yourselves yesterday. But you had a full flight, didn’t you?

First Light, West Coast, Mango Disability Blues

Mango in a dream is a dream, mango is mango. Woke up this morning with this in mind. Traveling three days, cross country, speaking about disability to college students at Pacific University, reading some prose and poetry, meeting new people, making new friends. Mango is mango. Trees are swaying around this airport hotel, moss covers the slates by the swimming pool out back where I take my guide dog early in the morning. Soon we will get on an airplane and fly all day back to New York. Mango. People with disabilities are in trouble. Mango. The nation wants to roll back every triumph of social service to feed the war machine and the greed index, all for nothing save a watered down brand of social darwinism. Hitler, calling the disabled “useless eaters”–is there really much difference between that idea and Romney’s 47%? Mango is mango. Sweet and impoverished land. Sweet fruit on a hard day. Sweet. Woke up this morning wild for the goodness which is ours alone–we demand it, savor it, fight for it, call it up.

Disability in a dream is a mango early, early just about first light, I’d say.

Disability and the Local Pie

I went to a diner yesterday with my friend, the writer Alison Towle Moore and we ate a local kind of pie made of out berries that are only found here in the Pacific northwest, and now I can’t remember what they’re called though I think the pie lady called them Marion Berries, which of course sounds like the former Mayor of Washington, DC, so that can’t be right.

While Ali and I were talking, rather candidly about our respective parents and the struggle to live in the shadow of family dysfunction, the pie lady picked up on our conversation and decided to join us. She has had a tough life. We wound up, the three of us, talking about how to live and what to do. That’s the way of it. The pie lady needs her antidepressants. I need mine. Without them we’d live under the couch.

I love the assumption of “ableist” types who imagine that invisible disabilities are just a bunch of hooey–you know the types–the ones who opine in a school board meeting or a faculty meeting or what have you, a living room perhaps–that in their day there weren’t all these learning disabilities and “conditions” etc. In “their day” (Jurassic?) no one ever talked about disability–they’d beat you senseless if you tried to explain why you were unable to achieve in school. In fact, they’d just beat you senseless anyway.

I’ll take the local pie and an anti-depressant please. Please.

Landmark Decision Promoting Accessible Books for the Blind

National Federation of the Blind Applauds Landmark Court Ruling

Decision Will Revolutionize Blind People’s Access to Books

Baltimore, Maryland (October 11, 2012): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) today applauded a decision issued on October 10, 2012, by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which permits the distribution of millions of books to blind and print-disabled people. The ruling in Authors Guild, Inc., et al., v. HathiTrust, et al. (Case number: No. 11-cv-6351-HB) heldthat providing access for students with print disabilities constitutes a “transformative use” under the fair use provision of the Copyright Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act and that Section 121 of the Copyright Act (the “Chafee Amendment”) permits university libraries to digitize their collections for distribution and use by the blind. As a result, the University of Michigan will now be permitted to make its entire 10 million volume digital collection available to all blind Americans, revolutionizing access to digital books by the blind and print disabled.

The ruling is part of the court’s decision to grant the NFB’s and HathiTrust’s motions for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by the Authors Guild against the HathiTrust, a repository of several university library collections scanned by Google, and participating universities. The Authors Guild alleged the HathiTrust and universities violated the Copyright Act by engaging in mass digitization of their collections. Because these works represent the largest collection of works accessible to the blind and print disabled, the NFB intervened in the lawsuit.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “Access to the printed word has historically been one of the greatest challenges faced by the blind. The landmark decision by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York will revolutionize access to books for the blind. For the first time ever, blind students and scholars will have the opportunity to participate equally in library research. The blind, just like the sighted, will have a world of education and information at their fingertips. The National Federation of the Blind commends the court’s decision, which constitutes a significant step toward full and equal access to information by the blind.”

Happy 40th Anniversary you F-ing Handicapped

My friend and fellow disability rights activist Scott Rains has written a sobering blog post about a cruel incident he experienced while simply trying to go about his business as a human being. He was subjected to an abusive tirade from a stranger who, among other things, tossed the “F Bomb” at him simply because he is a person with a disability.

I was in transit yesterday, flying from my home in Syracuse to Oregon where I’m speaking today at Pacific University. I’ll be reading poetry and prose about disability, and talking to a disability studies class. I intend to share Scott’s blog post with the students.

I remember vividly having a similar experience when, only a few weeks after getting my first guide dog, still learning how to be a blind traveler, still building confidence, still imagining I had a place in the world–I remember going to a branch office of my savings bank, a walk-in kiosk like affair, and while standing in line to cash my meager check, a woman shouted at me about “you fucking handicapped people, you fucking handicapped people.”

The other customers froze. I told her she could count on two things in life: her own craziness, and the contempt of others. Then I walked out. A bank employee ran after me, clearly distressed, and said, “Come with me,” and we went down the street to the main branch and I reported the incident. It was apparently not the first time this woman had gone nuts in the bank. She was subsequently prohibited from entering the premises. I don’t know how that worked out.

What I remember though, or try to remember, is that crazy people who scream at those of us with disabilities tend to be universal bigots rather than single issue bigots. And while that’s not of much use, insofar as bigotry is unspeakable and exhausting, and sad, it’s also worth remembering for, if you’re a person with a disability, all too often you can feel like the loneliest person in the world, no matter how much you travel, or how extroverted you may be. I think Scott and I and many others with disabilities know that story really well.

We love you Brother Rains!