A friend lost his eyes once. He was washing them, prosthetic plastic eyeballs and he dropped them and they rolled away–two eyes moving in different directions. And my friend was frozen in place for he was in a nameless moment, one for which there are no intonations or gestures. The eyes were rolling like an infinite number of mistakes. He could hear them, oblong, blue, stuffed with algebra. 

Micro Memoir 62

I bought an umbrella from a street vendor. The sky was clear. The weather report called for many days of sun. Sometimes you need a prop for the dark, unconscious side of life. I bought the thing for my dead mother. And then she was there with me on 8th St. And the crowd around us formed a dense black ant pile and the confusion all about was indescribable.

Topographers of the 18th century, here’s snow with its murmuring rhymes and half words. I know how you put this on your maps. This is because I also try to avoid temporal distractions.

(WNYC)
August 28, 2012

NEW YORK, NEW YORK– [Excerpt provided by Inclusion Daily Express] A Federal Court Judge will hear testimony Monday about how to make city polling sites more accessible for people who use wheelchairs or have vision impairments.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts ruled there were pervasive barriers at sites — from inadequate signage to locked entrance doors — for people with disabilities.

The suit was filed two years ago, alleging the Board of Elections violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Denise McQuade, who uses a wheelchair, faced several obstacles when she tried to vote in 2010 because her polling place in Bay Ridge was inaccessible.

“The door was hard to get through in a wheelchair and then I immediately faced a steep ramp that was more for deliveries than wheelchairs because it was on an incline and it was impossible to go up or down it by myself,” she said.

It wasn’t the first time McQuade had problems trying to vote.

Entire article:
Looking to November, Disability Advocates Call for Accessible Polling Places
http://tinyurl.com/ide0828123

Notes on the 1860’s:

My great great grandfather did not read Baudelaire–he was a wheelwright, 

hammering slats for infant coffins in the north–snow at the windows,

insatiable appetites in the age of epidemics. 

Landscapes in faces; songs beginning slowly;

people dying so easily 

many in early morning. 

From the Autistic Self Advocacy Network 

On August 22nd, 2012, The Washington Times published an editorial entitled, “Holder’s ‘Severe Mental Deficiency’“, attacking affirmative action for people with disabilities seeking to enter the federal workforce. In response, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network has issued the following statement:

The Washington Times‘ recent editorial attacking efforts by the federal government to act as a “model employer” for people with disabilities is full of both blatant factual inaccuracies and statements calculated to denigrate the contributions of workers with disabilities. Not only does the Times ignore the reality of widespread discrimination against disabled people – it also accepts such discrimination as natural and desirable.  To the Times’ Editorial Board, “most employers would balk at even minor mental disabilities in hiring a lawyer,” and federal disability hiring initiatives propose to employ “those who are teetering on the edge of sanity.” This attitude ignores the legacies of pioneering disabled attorneys like Paul Steven Miller and Evan Kemp, both of whom faced down prejudice and dedicated their careers to advocating on behalf of the disabled community. Today’s generation of lawyers with disabilities deserve no less respect.

According to The Washington Times, disabled people are hopelessly damaged goods: we are automatically unqualified or poorly qualified for positions within the Justice Department, and inherently incapable of providing taxpayers with a “superior level of public service.”  The author ignores the long-standing and deeply entrenched ableism that pervades hiring processes in the public and private sectors.  Along with perpetuating damaging stereotypes about disabled people—particularly those of us with developmental and psychiatric disabilities—the author makes bold assertions based on factual inaccuracies. Despite the author’s protestations about “special treatment” and the potential for abuse, Schedule A requires extensive documentation and has nothing to do with Standard Form 256-which asks only those who have been hired to voluntarily self-identify as disabled for statistical purposes. Schedule A also does not allow for the hiring of unqualified employees. 

Although the Times’ editorial evinces a tone of shocked indignation, as if the idea of regarding disabled people as a minority subject to historical and ongoing injustice is novel and outrageous, such affirmative action policies are neither new nor unique to the Justice Department.  The initiative to provide disabled applicants with opportunities within the federal government dates back decades, and the Obama administration’s executive order has simply increased the effective implementation of a long-standing policy across federal departments. 

Ultimately, The Washington Times grossly mischaracterizes a policy that is delivering meaningful employment opportunities to qualified candidates with disabilities, thereby improving the diversity and talent within the federal workforce.  American taxpayers are themselves an incredibly diverse population, and they deserve to be served by public employees who reflect that diversity.  That such an editorial was published at all demonstrates how sorely such policies are needed, and how far we have to go to attain equality and inclusion for the disabled community. 

Media Contact:
Melody Latimer
Director of Community Engagement
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
mlatimer@autisticadvocacy.org
(202)630-7477

Guide dogs go back so far we are surprised when we look. Paintings from Herculaneum show blind people walking with dogs in 79 BCE. The idea was always there. And why not? Everything is in motion in this world and then the dogs come running to our sides. The dogs come rushing.

When the dog arrives, some peace comes. And a new brand of pertinacious strolling comes. Even in Herculaneum, a blind man walked to the village square, received water from a fountain, told a story about two snakes and an owl. And his oversized, white dog was pleased by the words. I saw it this morning in my own dog.

I want you to understand me. I come from one or two regions beyond the blurry pasture. The dark pines are engraved with the bold eyes of my sleep. Here I am, new to this day. 

What should I do? 

I will dress, eat, drink my coffee, then take a local train far far into the suburbs where the concrete apartment buildings stand like water birds in a swamp and I will climb to the roof of a building I do not know and I will sit there for a time. 

The world is barbarous and filled with shadows. It’s proper to find a neutral spot where you can think about it.