I’m on a plane now, reading over the notes I’ve made from the last four days. I’ve just come from a week of listening, sharing and thinking about how society can be shaped and shifted to support family caregivers. I was thinking too, about how care is at the heart
Continue readingTag: Disability
wmtc: not a funny story: ned vizzini, youth fiction, and suicide
It’s so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself. That’s the first line of Ned Vizzini’s excellent 2006 youth novel, It’s Kind of a Funny Story. By the time I read the book this year, the author was already dead. Vizzini committed suicide last December; he was only
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Could Gilberto Powell Have Been Your Son, Mister President?
Nearly every day I see stories in the media of people with disabilities being abused. (For example, the case of Ethan Saylor, the young man with Down Syndrome who was killed by police when he went to the cinema). But I normally don’t blog about them because I am not
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: The Meaning of Friendship
Some friends are for life. Some friends stick with you through thick and thin. Friendship is a really, really big deal for everyone, but especially for our loved ones with disabilities or age-related vulnerability. It may be that someone with a cognitive impairment cannot carry on a conversation, let alone
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: the fault in our stars, a truly great novel for youth and not-youth
I am in the middle of reading The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, a book almost too painful to read but impossible to put down. It’s achingly funny, profoundly insightful, and utterly heartbreaking, all at the same time. The Fault In Our Stars is supposedly a youth novel,
Continue readingwmtc: wmtc rebooted
I was in the middle of writing a post about my plan to get back into an exercise routine… when I broke my foot. Doing almost nothing. Walking along in the mall, on my way to get my hair cut and then go to work, my ankle turned over sharply.
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Deafness, speech and the Performance of Gender
Deafness, speech and the Performance of Gender This weekend I had the privilege of participating in a conference on Disability and Ableism at Ryerson University. Let me just say first that it is an incredible feeling to be among people fluent in American Sign Language (ASL). To see them speak
Continue readingwmtc: marxism 2012 program notes: from each according to their ability: the role of socialists in disability movement
This is the final post of my notes from the 2012 Marxism Conference. This was the first Marxism conference to include a talk on disability, an exciting development full of potential. I wanted to blog about it in great detail. A friend was recording the talk, so I stopped taking
Continue readingwmtc: follow-up memo to children’s aid: we told you so. happy christmas.
Back in May, I blogged about a family in my area who faced a nightmare: social services had threated to remove their child from their home. Both parents have disabilities, and although they had proved themselves completely capable of taking care of a baby, Children’s Aid said they must hire
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: An Idea for Justice for you and you and you….
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the barriers to people with disability or infirmity to pursue their aspirations and achieve their potential with the support they need and the dignity they deserve. Is my son more than the embodiment of his physical disabilities? Does my mother represent something
Continue readingwmtc: from the archives: paralympics integration with olympics, the athletes’ perspectives
Oscar Pistorius’ historic run as the first double-amputee Olympic athlete has revived the ongoing discussion of whether or not to integrate the Paralympics into the Olympics. (Stories in The Guardian, Slate, and on CBC’s The Current.) Integration sounds like a great idea, and on the surface, the fierce opposition of
Continue readingwmtc: in defense of drugs: anti-depressant medication saves and improves lives
Friends, if this post sounds like a conversation we’ve had, please don’t take it personally. I’ve had the same or similar conversations with many people. This is a subject that seems to arise periodically – here, on Allan’s blog, on Facebook, in any forum I frequent. That’s why I thought
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Under Siege by the Fates
Here’s the thing about being a parent to a son or daughter who is totally dependent – as you get older, you feel more vulnerable, not less. You begin to give over responsibility for care to others… doctors who are no longer paediatricians, but adult physicians, carers, social workers, pharmacists,
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Beauty and Difference – A Celebration
I love clothes, I love fashion, I love feeling wonderful in clothes I love, I love shoes, I love getting dressed up for parties, I love getting my hair done, I love the way I feel when I get dressed up and go out. That’s the girl in me. The
Continue readingwmtc: memo to children’s aid: people with disabilities can be capable parents
This story makes me so angry and frustrated. I can only imagine how the parents feel! I’ve reached out to some activists I know who are people with disabilities for suggestions on how we can support this family. A disabled couple in Mississauga are fighting to keep their newborn son
Continue readingwmtc: canadian profile: justin hines
In the March issue of New Mobility, I have a cover story about Canadian musician Justin Hines. You can see it here. I wrote this over my winter break – just as the library job came through! Not exactly the restful vacation I was hoping for. Fortunately I had a
Continue readingSchool’s out forever: No more pencils / No more books
Today, I handed in the final requirement for my Master’s degree, a major (90 + plus page) research paper. As someone who finds reading and writing arduous, over-rated and shamefully over-valourized in my communities and social circles, I have decided, ever so happily, to stop reading and writing in my free
Continue readingJess McCormack: work = worth = innocence
I just wanted to take a quick opportunity to direct your gaze at the work of a friend of mine, Jess McCormack. Her recent work explores some of the interconnected threads between homelessness, employment, police violence, stigma and mental illnes…
Continue readingwmtc: kenney’s canada: paralyzed woman to lose independence if caregivers are deported
Just another story of more undeserving immigrants trying to sneak into the promised land. This one is a particularly sneaky ploy. Here’s how you do it.First, emigrate to Canada, a process that takes a minimum of two years, often twice that or longer. T…
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Liberal Stewart McGillivray Also Confirms Conservative James Moore’s Autism Is Not a Disability Statement
More Confirmation!
Liberal Stewart McGillivray, who also participated in the candidate’s forum in which Conservative James Moore made his “autism is not a disability” statement, has, along with NDP Mark Ireland, also confirmed that Moore did indeed mak…