Is Britain Way Ahead of the US?

I think so. It seems British newspapers cover the topic of disability & sex, but we do not. They also have reality shows with disabled cast members (see below) or even shows built around disabled casts, such as Britain's Missing Top Model, and I think they had some kind of wheelchair dancing show akin to Dancing with the Stars. Yes, we had Heather Mills and Marlee Matlin, there are those TLC shows and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, there was Josh Blue on Last Comic Standing, but we haven't produced a global sensation and Britain has--Susan Boyle. Let's not forget, How's Your News? didn't make it, and My Deaf Family seems to be having trouble making it onto TV in the first place. I would think TLC would eat it up.

From what I've read disability is fast becoming a "regular" integrated part of British society, just as other minority groups have over the decades, and we are far behind. In the US based shows mentioned above it seems almost as if PWDs have been put on display to be gawked at like a sideshow (am I going too far in my comparison?).

When is the last time that a disabled actor was on TV as just a regular cast member? The last I remember is Theo Huxtable, from The Cosby Show, who was diagnosed as dyslexic late in the show, but that was 20 years ago. (Is that actor actually dyslexic?) I was going to write a post about Dr Fife on Private Practice (who really is a quad), but I could never get my thoughts out. Maybe we are coming along? The show deals with his disability in a very frank manner, going as far as including an episode surrounding sex (I'd jump for joy if I could jump).

What do you think? I found this article through media dis&dat

By Geoff Adams-Spink, Age & disability correspondent, BBC News. Pictured is disabled actor Adam Best, who stars in "Eastenders."

Whether it is Jim Davidson refusing to perform in Plymouth because the front row of the theatre is occupied by disabled people, or Frankie Boyle lampooning people with Down's Syndrome, comedians often find themselves in hot water when it comes to disability.

Disability is one of those things that makes people feel awkward - there is perhaps a deep-rooted, psychological fear of contamination by association.

So what we often do when something makes us feel uneasy is to laugh about it.

It's still well within living memory that TV comedians would poke fun at people from different ethnic groups - but broadcasting executives soon cottoned on to the fact that they risked alienating growing sections of their audience for the sake of a cheap gag.

Performers - Davidson included - had to clean up their act on screen, even if their live performances in clubs and theatres still used traditional targets as the butt of their jokes.

Laughing at the expense of disabled people continued to slip beneath the radar of commissioners - it was almost as though to be edgy and alternative, making jokes about disability was seen as some sort of badge of honour.

David Blunkett was seldom if ever mentioned on Have I Got News for You without his blindness being ridiculed.

A BBC Three chat show once had author Will Self telling the audience that he enjoyed playing a game called "child or dwarf?" with his children in the car.

Anyone of small stature would be the subject of speculation and - in the case of a dispute - his son would be sent out of the car to take a closer look. The audience apparently found this hilariously funny.

But the TV landscape has changed considerably over the past few years.

Coronation Street is the latest of the British soaps to announce a regular disabled character. EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Emmerdale have already done so.

There have been disabled characters in Holby City, and Cast Offs on Channel 4 was a big hit.

Actress and model Shannon Murray received critical acclaim for her overtly sexy Debenhams posters which resulted from the How to Look Good Naked show, again on Channel 4.

Disability - on and off-screen - is being normalised as never before. It is no longer the stuff of fantasy to imagine that a visibly disabled person might read the Ten O'Clock News or present highlights from Glastonbury.

After all, Frank Gardner - who was injured in Saudi Arabia - regularly pops up on news programmes.

So does Gary O'Donoghue - blind since childhood and one of the army of political correspondents now delivering blow-by-blow accounts of the election campaign.

It is highly likely, given all of this mainstreaming of disability, that Mr Boyle's jokes about Down's Syndrome will go the way of mother-in-law jokes or sitcoms like Love Thy Neighbour.

We will probably watch comedy archive programmes in 20 years time and ask ourselves, 'Did we really used to laugh at that?'

What's That You Say?!?! You Find Your Chair Empowering???

[picture discription: a bad picture of me in my Jazzy powerchair from Feb 2006]

That's right ladies and gentleman. Me of all people, the person who walks around so much that she's so tired she falls asleep on the floor with the lights on and walks around close to tears from exhaustion. I like my powerchair. Today. We'll see about tomorrow. As I said in an email this morning, these last 3 weeks I've felt like some sort of foreign being has invaded my body. I've been in a great mood, I'm "popular" all of a sudden, and low and behold, I like the chair. Today. Things will probably change if/when I exit the alternate universe I'm in currently.

Why do I like the chair all of a sudden? Because I'm BORED. I don't have a working TV or computer (still) and right now I live alone. You see, in addition to being a chronic chair hater, I've also been absolutely convinced for years that I'm incapable of finding ways of entertaining myself. Enter TV and computer. That I don't have anymore. Summer is light on my schedule. Some days (like weekends) I may have 6 straight hrs to fill. What am I going to do? Stare at the wall for 6hrs? I've been a fan of staring at blank walls for years. I do so on a daily basis. But not for 6hrs. I absolutely draw the line at an hr and a half. On top of everything else, the gym has been closed for repairs since May 20-something and every week I check to see if it's open and they say, "Try early next week." I'm in much need of a good 2 mi run.

What have I been doing? Well a few weeks ago I went to the supermarket about a mile down the road 3 times in a week. I ventured into the public library maybe 1/2 mi down the street (as opposed to sticking to the school library) and read part of one of Marlee Matlin's books. Unfortunately they didn't have Moving Violations. I went to the zoo with friends. That time since a friend with CP came we split and half the time she used her scooter and I used my crutches and then we switched. So it wasn't actually my chair, but it counts. The day before I went to the mall (across the street from the supermarket) and searched and searched for a pair of sunglasses that weren't huge. Don't understand that trend. I can usually walk the mall, but I had to cover the whole thing 3X to find them (then I lost them 2 days ago and had to get another pair ). I cut through Barnes & Noble to get to the mall because it's safer, so I've been there too. While I was still out that day, a friend called and asked if I wanted to go with her to someplace "on the strip." I said "No prob. I'm in my chair already there. Call me when you're leaving. No need to get me. I'll meet you at the place." That felt cool. Afterwards we went 2 stores over to have dinner, and then I took the chair (and myself) home. I had a meeting on Fri and instead of wasting my $ on cab fare, guess what I did? I took the chair. It was a block further than the mall and thankfully in a completely accessible building.

Not in the chair, I've gone up to Wegmans for dinner with that same friend (LOVE that place) and down to the inner harbor with her to hit up a bar. Afterwards we went into Little Italy. I've gone to a pizza place with another friend, and then to his place for a bit of TV (because I can't never watch TV and of course we couldn't go to my place). On Father's Day I went to Harbor East with the fam for a late brunch.

My therapist said last week that she thinks bored suits me. I can't argue with her. I feel exhausted just reading that. Except that for once, even though I still walk about 1.5 mi to/from class 2X/week, I'm not tired. I'm committing suicide just by writing this. I'm never going to live this down. I may have just given up my right to fight with people. Except that well, I'm still worried about getting fat and losing muscle mass, because the more I use the chair, the more I want to use the chair. It's so comfortable and much faster than I am. There's a lot of appeal to that. It's a very dangerous slippery slope, that I'm afraid I may already be on.

But why am I really empowered by the chair? A close friend called yesterday afternoon. He really needed me. It was a rough day for him. But he also needed to be out. He wanted to go to the mall. "How long will it take you to finish what you're doing and cab it?" he asked. "Well if we're going there, then I'm taking my chair and it just so happens that I'm already in it. I'll call you when I'm leaving campus and I'll be there in 20mins." We went to the mall, cut through Barnes & Noble, the art store, Hudson Trail, and Trader Joe's. I'm empowered by the chair because I was able to drop what I was doing almost at a moments notice and be there for somebody that needed me. That's something I couldn't do without the chair. And I wouldn't trade that for anything.

Damn chair... It's just supposed to be pure evil.

Dancing with the Stars

First off I am saddened that I have not been able to blog often since the start of school. On the other hand, I'm very happily spending quality time with "real people" and I'm amazingly getting my work done. If only I wasn't so exausted all the time...

And now with no further ado, my real blog post.

As I was comming out of my Valium induced stuper this morning I happened to catch the rumored list of stars for the next season of Dancing with the Stars. Who is on the list? Marlee Matlin. This has me somewhat intrigued. I'm wondering how it will all turn out. I'm not a fan of the show at all, but I think that this is going to get me to watch. Interesting though I was not compelled to watch when Heather Mills was on. I wonder why? Speaking of this though, I would like to commend ABC for so readily including people with disabilities on the show. And it's not liked they picked someone with a math related learning disability, they picked people with visable disabilities that make dancing more difficult, while still holding them to the same standard as everyone else. YES!!!! Somebody's finally got it. For those of you who don't know, Heather Mills is an amputee and Marlee Matlin is deaf. I think she has a cochlear implant, but that doesn't make her hear perfectly. She still will have trouble hearing the music.