ABLED

This blog is about reconciling the two worlds of disability understanding. On one side are the strong voices of activists in the disability community. On the other is the well meaning but naïve/ ignorant able bodied population who see disability as something pitiable. As an able bodied person who has realized the very compelling and interesting arguments about society and life coming from the disability community, I am compelled to referee the exchanges between the two sides. Often times it seems that everyone is speaking so loudly and with such great conviction that the other doesn't even listen. Since I am not personally motivated by either side, I can weigh both sides of the arguments and hopefully facilitate an open and accepting space for both sides to express themselves and learn about each other. Please join the discussion!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Look Ma, No Arms

I made a post recently, wondering how you reacted to a video showing a man in a wheelchair struggle to cook a frozen pizza. In a comment on that post, a reader passed along this clip of a Chinese woman who has no arms doing common household tasks. How do you feel about this one? I vote for Amazed. She adapted to her situation by training her feet to perform very fine motor skills. Pretty interesting to see the Chinese woman video pared with the pizza video. It makes me think about why these films were made and what messages they were trying to convey (it would help if I could understand the Chinese!). One highlights frustrating struggle while the other emphasizes brilliant successes. Two very different disability perspectives. Thanks a lot for passing this along reader!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

oh, now i'm just a "reader" to you, huh will? chanel told me what they were saying, but i forgot. i'll ask her again later...

 
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