The following letter was sent by me to Adrian Dix, Minister of Health; Selina Robinson, Minister of Housing and Shane Simpson, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. Dear Ministers, I am writing to ask you to immediately make air purifiers available to low income people who need them through a rapid barrier-free emergency extension…
This post is about the truth lost and harm that happens when (with or without intention of malice) we flatten people’s identity and lived experience to ‘we’re all the same’ in a society where we are not treated the same.
ableism / accessibility / BC Politics / Cities / Disability / disabled / inclusion / poverty / Uncategorized / Vancouver / Vancouver politics / wheelchair users
I received this message from someone on Twitter. They wish to remain anonymous but said I could share the contents publicly.
accessibility / Active Transportation / Affordable Housing / Disability / disabled / Housing / Uncategorized
What if your luxury is my accessibility? What if the things you deem extras are essentials to me?
#events / ableism / accessibility / Active Transportation / BC Budget / BC Politics / bike lanes / bike paths / bikes / British Columbia / Canadian Politics / Cities / Community / Disability / disabled / inclusion / local politics / Municipalities / poverty / public policy / racism / Uncategorized / Urban Design / Urban Planning / urbanism / Vancouver / Vancouver politics / wheelchair users
Some of us get the long guns. I said this in a conversation with another disabled woman in the Accessibility Room at an Active Transportation summit. I was explaining why I believe policing is a vital part of the conversation about accessibility of active transportation and had, specifically sought out presenters to speak about this.…
Your job is to teach Vancouver students how to learn from history not how to memorialize and preserve the worst of it. Vote tonight to remove the slab of stone celebrating Cecil Rhodes from a Vancouver schoolyard playground. This should not be a difficult decision.
I want to talk a bit about how disability issues get discussed and addressed but first I want to specify that I am a white disabled woman who became disabled – the reasons why those things matter will hopefully become clear.
Part One 1. The dividing up of which body parts & which conditions, treatments, (any?) medications get coverage under our ‘universal’ healthcare is not based on science or public need/interest. The specific issue I raised here is #BCLiberalPhysio#bcpoli And this is probably my cue to sign off Twitter. A BC journalist has time to go…
Charity is a dirty word in my world. My world meaning my particular life which includes but far exceeds my experience of being a disabled poor woman. Charity is demeaning, lost dignity, stolen power, abuse of authority, exploitative, harmful, it is the sickeningly pleased with itself happy face of systemic oppression and injustice. I hate…
Some tell me I’m inspiring when I’m trying to find the best price on coffee at the grocery store. Some people tell me I’m inspiring when I am sitting drinking a coffee at the beach. Some tell me I’m inspiring when I stick a coffee cup between my thighs and wheel over to the counter to get some sweetener. (Coffee is a lot of my life.)
Hea\dline: Kim Campbell Calls President Trump A Motherf**ker! The former PM weighs in days after a U.S. congresswoman pledged to help impeach POTUS. Photos of Trump and Kim Campbell This isn’t going to take long because I don’t have all fucking day for this shit. When a wealthy, respected person says motherfucker they are seen…
But the point of this post is not accessibility, it is capitalism. Supply and demand. Profit. Mass production. The things that form the economic basis for the society we live in and how items we use and require are produced and distributed…So what happens when all but a minority of people who require them for accessibility stop using plastic bendy straws?
Last night as I watched the make up of council unfold I said to someone “I’m scared” and then immediately regretted my choice of word. This isn’t Trump – the new yardstick for measuring how bad election results can be. The truth is there is no one word to describe how I feel but anxious might be closest.
“You know, that might be the answer – to act boastfully about something we ought to be ashamed of. That’s a trick that never seems to fail.” – Joseph Heller, Catch-22 “The calculated simulated of enthusiasm…is also common within contemporary culture. In a variety of configurations, the applause sign has become a social principle.” Stuart McEwan,…
On May 16, 2018, the City of Vancouver, BC voted unanimously to proceed with a ban on single-use plastic straws. They did so despite the fact they are necessary for some disabled people and that alternatives (metal, paper, bamboo…) are not suitable for different reasons for different disabled people. The City had originally…
