Archive for wheelchairs
“Disability Dolls”: A Blessing or a Curse?
I saw an interesting article the other day about dolls specially made to represent people with disabilities. Down Syndrome, cancer, blindness are being represented in some of the new dolls being made, as well as dolls that use wheelchairs. The article gives three different perspectives, one in support of the doll and two against. The support says that children should be able to have dolls that look like them, while the opposition says that it puts too much focus on children’s differences. Personally, much the way I wish dolls representing other races were more readily available (I remember last Christmas finding a non-white doll for my partner’s mixed niece was difficult to say the least), I think that people with disabilities should be represented, even with dolls. I don’t think we should be trying to convince children that they’re no different than “everyone else”. Children don’t fall for that. I think we should be showing children, as cheesy as it sounds, that everyone is different and that we should embrace differences in each other rather than to just pretend they don’t exist. You can find the doll article here.
What do you think? Are dolls representing people with disabilities a good thing or a bad thing?
Ableism at Work: You Want Us to Do WHAT?
The company that I am working for for the summer holds an annual convention, and this year they have decided to do a “philanthropy project” for all of their members at the convention. The company wanted to work with Habitat for Humanity, but Habitat for Humanity’s chapter in the area where the convention is to take place was not able to schedule a build with them as far in advance as my company’s deadline, so my company scrapped the idea. I did some research then and came up with a volunteer organization that builds ramps to make people’s homes wheelchair accessible. I gave the idea to some people I work with who seemed enthusiastic, but then we talked about it in the meeting today, and it seems some people are less enthusiastic about it than others. First of all, the CEO said that it was a “lame” idea, that building ramps sounded like a stupid idea, and that we should do something much more impressive with a more well-known company. He said we could work with United Way or the Red Cross, but that we didn’t want our members to think we’re small-time like this small, locally based nonprofit. We couuld do anything else, as long as it was with a big company with a big name. I found out quickly that this wasn’t about doing good, it was about making a good name for ourselves. I have felt incredibly jaded with the company since, and I am glad that this is just a summer job.
What do you all do or say when a superior says something ableist or otherwise prejudice or offensive in front of you?
