I have often thought that people with disabilities and people who are gay should be natural allies, even before all of the No on Proposition 8 protestsand the subsequent rallies after election day started across the nation. The protests bring back memories of ADAPT actions I've been involved with in the past. I feel that we have many shared experiences in our battles for acceptance in life. Consider how many of us grow up in, but not of, the dominant culture,and often have to look outside our families of origin for role models and inspiration. The fact that we only rarely get the guy or girl in Hollywood productions is only a bonus. Also, all kinds of people think it's icky to contemplate members of either group having sex.

Just when you think you’ve heard everything, a story like this reminds us just how ridiculous government can be.

Eileen Wilbur was one penny short when she paid last year's water bill. Now the city of Attleboro, Mass., is threatening to take action. In a letter they paid 42 cents to mail, city officials say they'll place a lien on the blind 74-year-old's house unless she coughs up a penny by Dec. 10, according to the Associated Press. City Collector Debora Marcoccio tells The Sun Chronicle that Wilbur should have paid the balance on her account when they sent out the original bill. She says the lien notices are automatically printed. "It would be fiscally irresponsible for me to have staff weed through the bills and pull out any below a certain amount," she says, according to the paper. " And what would that amount be?"

People with disabilities across the country and specifically those in Illinois won a huge victory last week when a tentative settlement was reached in a class action suit. The settlement requires that thousands of people with disabilities living in institutions must be offered the option of living in the community. Residents of institutions across the state of Illinois will have the option of moving to small group homes and living in their communities.

Under the terms of the agreement, the 6,600 residents now living in state-funded residential facilities must be given the option to move into small group homes in their own communities. Another 15,000 people waiting for residential services would also be affected by the agreement.

I received the following announcement from a friend. Please consider how you can speak out in support of Ray and others who still face involuntary treatment.

Human Rights Alert: Involuntary Electroshock

MindFreedom International
November 7, 2008

by David W. Oaks, Director, MindFreedom International

The past Wednesday morning after the historic USA election what were you doing? I know what Ray Sandford, 54, was doing. Each and every Wednesday, early in the morning, staff shows up at Ray’s sheltered living home called Victory House in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, adjacent to Minneapolis. Staff escorts Ray the 15 miles to Mercy Hospital. There, Ray is given another of his weekly electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments, also known as electroshock. All against his will. On an outpatient basis. And it’s been going on for months.

Its not too often that I get to mix two of my greatest passions in life when I sit down to write a blog entry. Those two being sports and disability activism. But, today is my lucky day I suppose. And, because the sport is hockey, its even better.

Occasionally I write about perception and instances where society is exposed to the disability experience either in a movie, print media, television program or through some other way. Sometimes this exposure is positive and helps people to come to a better understanding about life with a disability. But, there are many other times where I’m left scratching my head wondering just what the producers were thinking.

Once in a while I get asked to participate in forums or discussions about disability issues. This was the case a few weeks ago at work when I was asked to participate in a presentation for a class from Arizona State University. There were several of us on the panel who shared some very personal insights regarding our disability. Part of the discussion required us to give the official medical label or diagnosis for our disability and then to explain it in simple English.

I find it fascinating sometimes when I meet people who have disabilities who feel its important to make sure I know their label. That is, what professional or medical speak is used to explain what some in other circles might call their condition or impairment.

Ordinarily, I'd be so psyched that the traditional media is running with a story about women with disabilities.But, somehow, when the story features being shoved and pushed around by those who say they love us, there's a lot less to be happy about. Women with disabilities are way more likely to face "Intimate partner" violence, although I think most of the articles are focused on heterosexual couples...not sure how much of a difference being with a woman would make. Are the abusive partners always non-disabled? I don't think the article says for sure. The breakdown we do get is pretty horrifying:

Women with disabilities receive more threats of violence 28.4% to 15.7 for non-disabled women.

We get hurt more by our partners, by about half, 30.6% to 15.7, and face sexual coercion 19.7% to 8.2%.

I couldn't help but smile as I left the county building last Friday morning thinking that I had finally been able to do something that just about every other American has taken for granted for many years. Because of the hard work and activism of many people in the disability community I was at long last able to cast my vote independently, without the help of anyone. I know, for some of you reading this it sounds trivial. You've been able to walk/roll in to the voting booth and fill out a ballot and probably not thought twice about it. But, for some of us, this hasn't been possible.

Yes, I'm a bit late to the party and I should have been able to do this in 2006. Unfortunately, some problems prevented that from happening. Even this time, I had to wait for over half an hour while election workers tried to fire up the machine that read the ballot to me. But eventually everything worked and, after cycling through various federal, state, county and local races, I had finally done it.

I suppose it's wrong to blame my current funk on Classmates.com After all, I'm a far-from-cheerful person with a significant disability at the tail-end of Bush's America...there's no shortage of things to get down about there, not least of which that Arizona voters are poised to vote on that stupid marriage-protection ordinance again.(What? Did we stutter last time? Look, if you don't want to gay-marry someone, don't. Marriage protected)

Also, it sucks that as a PWD, I wasn't really allowed to enjoy the economic boom but I'm feeling the pinch of the bust. Anyway, as you can probably tell if you read this site with any regularity, within the last few cycles(politics-geek for "couple years",) I've become quite the political junkie.

I usually don't include internationally-focused articles that I read for this blog, but this one was so awesomely positive(and still specific) that I thought this was the best thing to come out of Belgium since fruit-topped waffles.

I have a disability, and I am pro-choice.(Although I can't always say that my life has been all about exercising a plethora of choices, more about coping with scarcity, but that is a topic for another time). However, I think it is because I know what it is like to have my bodily autonomy questioned or attacked outright, that I am solidly in favor of women making the decisions about the children they have or do not have.

Dear Americans with Disabilities,

It's a pleasure for me to join you in celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Americans with disabilities are an essential and underutilized part of our workforce. As President, I will work hard to help you achieve full equality - in the workplace, in education, and in all aspects of life.

I don't have to tell you the dismal statistics - an employment rate 40 points below that of working-age individuals without disabilities and a federal failure to meet the disability employment targets of Executive Order 13173.

I hope this will be an entertaining Pop Culture Thursday double-header this week. It's funny how that happens sometimes; some weeks there is nothing and now there are two in one day, just out of synchronicity.

With all the talk about Downs Syndrome in the news lately, it made me think about a book that has been hanging around our house for months. Despite watching a well-acted but ultimately disappointing "Lifetime" movie adaptation, I strongly recommend this book.

Though The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a work of fiction, it is immediately apparent that Ms. Edwards has done a lot of research among people with Down's Syndrome and their loved ones to bring her vision to life, and it's in the little details with which she excels.