Sumptuous Wheelchairs?

When I first learned about the art exhibit Opulent Mobility I was intrigued. An LA artist, A. Laura Brody, used wheelchairs and a walker as a base for fanciful, beautiful, impractical devices. The equipment was used as a beginning point, an armature to create inspired sculptures. These devices weren’t meant to make getting around easier. […]

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Criperati? Works for me (in a tongue-in-cheek kinda way)

I thought I coined a phrase–criperati. I may have made it up, but there’s been others that also did. Google coughed up a couple two days after I started looking for antecedents. I see the use of criperti as recognition that the disability community is stratified even though we like to think we’re completely egalitarian. […]

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Open Letter to My Disabled Brothers and Sisters: Hawking & “The Theory of Everything”

First off, the new biopic of Stephen Hawking, “The Theory of Everything” is a pretty good movie, but not great. I enjoyed it but I have a pretty high tolerance for disability schmaltz. I dislike overcomer stories but don’t gag when I see them. I won’t go see movies that degrade and us and treat […]

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Crutches and Backpacks

That’s me with my sister Paula on the grounds of Polytechnic School in Pasadena. Notice the backpack. It seems like I spent an inordinate amount of time from middle school through college figuring out how to carry things, particularly school books, while using crutches. It’s not the sharpest snapshot but the backpack looks big. I […]

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