DISABILITY INCLUSION IN URBAN DESIGN AND TOWN PLANNING

IS NOT AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH TO BE IGNORED – PART II

Image is NYC mural by Yok & Sheryo

The award to the biggest rat bastard town planner goes to this ableist: 

I asked why his plan only showed stairs and no wheelchair access.

“Well, maybe if people walked more, they would never need wheelchairs, he said.

While exercise is great, imagine a renowned urban designer being so opposed to ADA inclusion that they created myths.

In their absurd world, a lack of ramps & elevators is a 100% protective shield against spinal cord injury, MS, MD, CP, aging & all mobility impairments!

CRIP CAMP: A DISABILITY REVOLUTION | Official Trailer | Netflix | Docume...

KYLIE JENNER: GIMP GIRL WANNABE

BY HEIDI JOHNSON WRIGHT, AKA EARTHBOUND TOMBOY

By now, you’ve probably seen the fruits of the Kylie Jenner photo shoot in the current issue of Interview magazine. The teenage reality TV star is dressed provocatively in leather bondage gear. In some of the shots, even her delicately-curved derriere is exposed.

But with all of the photos we average folks are bombarded with on the Internet – celebrities posing in little more than body paint and glitter, fashion models striding nearly nude down catwalks – Ms. Jenner’s photos are not terribly remarkable. You, dear reader, have probably seen much more revealing stuff on your friends’ Instagram accounts.

So why am I even mentioning this? Well, it seems that Ms. Jenner has revealed something intimate about herself that goes beyond bare skin.

Kylie Jenner is a gimp girl wannabe. 

In two of the shots, Kylie is wearing a black leather strapless onesie and a black leather collar while sitting in a gold-tone manual wheelchair.

Looking at the shots left me flummoxed. You see, I thought Larry Flynt was the only gimp out there rocking a gold chair.

Then I tossed that thought aside. I mean, if anybody else could acquire a golden gimp-mobile, it would be a member of the storied Kardashian-Jenner family.

Next, my eyes went to the expression on Kylie’s face. In one photo, she stares off into space as if she’s perhaps experiencing a petit mal seizure. My cynical side wanted to dismiss this as the typical empty gaze of a high fashion model. You know, that look that says “I am insanely gorgeous and make $10 grand an hour, yet I’m so misunderstood.”

But then I realized that Ms. Jenner is really trying out the look of someone who has a disability. She wants to live it, to feel it.

Kylie’s tired of her incredibly privileged, affluent, non-disabled life. She wants to know what it’s like to have precarious health, to struggle to find employment yet keep her government benefits so she can pay for attendant care. She longs to spend weeks trying to find an accessible apartment she can afford, only to have the landlord tell her that the “no pets” policy means she can’t bring her service dog. She yearns to sit in the rain waiting for a bus, only to find that the one that stops has a broken lift and she has to wait another 20 minutes for the next one.

Kylie Jenner, I pronounce you an honorary gimp girl. Welcome to the club. 

http://earthboundtomboy.blogspot.com/2015/12/kylie-jenner-gimp-girl-wannabe.html

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HP LOVECRAFT

AN OPEN LETTER TO CTHULHU

BY HEIDI JOHNSON-WRIGHT

Dear Cthulhu:

Greetings, Great Old One! Hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time, but I sort of felt like this couldn’t wait. You see, I have a concern I’m hoping you can address.

Some of us pathetic creatures to whom you are malignantly indifferent, i.e. human beings, get around in wheeled contraptions. Most of the time, we manage fine, despite the roadblocks – broken sidewalks, lack of curb ramps, out-of-service elevators -- thrown our way. In fact, if the built environment was a bit more inclusive, wheeling around wouldn’t be such a big deal. So you can rest easy; I’m not asking you to place your prodigious claws on me and heal me like some sweaty tent evangelist in a bad toupee.

No, I’m writing to you for a very different reason. After years of research, including countless hours spent in musty-smelling antiquarian book shops, I discovered an ancient jungle temple dedicated exclusively to you. Imagine my jubilation when I discovered a place here on lowly Earth where I might feel a connection to you. Why, the world around me became tinted with a colour out of space!

I put my life on hold, dedicating my every thought, my every ounce of energy to reaching that holy place. I made the month-long journey to the temple on the back of a flatulent donkey, guided by little more than a map in Esperanto and a Garmin watch.

I shall never forget the day I caught sight of that temple’s Cyclopean walls, eerily hidden in an eldritch shadow out of time. Why, I cried out to Yog-Sothoth with joy! I reached inside my Miskatonic University tote bag and took out my inflatable beard (see attached photo.) But then, imagine my despair when I reached the temple’s entrance.

The dang thing has steps!

After all my time, energy and devotion, I was excluded from entering, unable to gaze at the high altar or sacrifice a goat or even check out the clearance table in the adjoining gift shop! Is there nothing that can be done?

Of course I see the paradox inherent in the situation: you have infinite powers yet total indifference to my plight. Still, I hope that you might pull a few strings and get a ramp installed. It’s not asking much, really. In fact, you’ll even earn yourself a tax credit that’s nothing to sneeze at.

Until then, I shall wait in my jungle lean-to, the donkey and swarms of unspeakably huge bugs my only companions.

Yours truly,

A humble daughter of Dagon

 

http://earthboundtomboy.blogspot.com/2015/06/an-open-letter-to-cthulhu.html

 

 

THE FUTURE IS UP TO YOU

DEAR GRADUATING CLASS OF 2015: 

BY HEIDI JOHNSON-WRIGHT

Dear Graduates:

As you head out into the world, I’d like to offer a few thoughts and bits of advice:

·        Do not be fooled. It might be 2015, but there is still a lot of inequality out there. Just because a law gives everyone the same rights doesn’t magically make it so. Equality comes not from statute books but from the attitudes and everyday acts of human beings.

·        Donating money to a cause or clicking “like” on a Facebook page is nice, but won’t change things very much. If you want to change things for the better, speak up when you see unfairness. Tell a business owner that you will no longer patronize their store or restaurant because disabled people can’t get in the door or up to the counter. By the same token, praise those who make an effort to include everyone.

·        If your body, mind and sensory organs function within “normal” parameters, be grateful. But don’t assume that makes you superior to anyone else. Blindness, Down Syndrome or a nasty limp may present challenges but do not make someone a lesser being.

·        If you wouldn’t make a statement about someone of a different race or religion, then don’t make that same statement about someone with a disability. For example, telling someone that it’s a shame she’s in a wheelchair is the same as telling her it’s a shame that she’s African-American or Jewish. Get the picture?

·        People with disabilities do not exist for the purpose of inspiring you or making you feel better about your problems. Imagine if your every breath, thought and act took place not for you own self-actualization, but for the benefit of everyone around you. Scary, right?

·        Borrowing your grandmother’s handicapped parking permit or lying that your pet is really a service dog are not victimless crimes. They make the whole world that much more suspicious and distrustful of disabled people with legitimate permits and service dogs. Simply put: that crap makes my life that much harder, so please don’t be that type of douchebag.

·        As your careers take off, try to make your corner of the world a little better. How? If you own your own business, make it fully disability accessible. If you become an HR director, recruit employees with disabilities. If you design anything – houses, cars, appliances, tech devices – make them universally accessible to all. If someday you’re a high flyer – a company’s CEO or the governor of your state – create a corporate culture of inclusion, from the top down.

Now go forth and do great things.

http://earthboundtomboy.blogspot.com/2015/05/dear-graduating-class-of-2015-future-is.html

WHEN DOES THE FREEDOM TRAIN ARRIVE?

AMERICA’S BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION ON JULY 4, 1976

WAS SOMETHING TO BEHOLD -- FOR ABLE-B0DIED PEOPLE

by heidi johnson-wright

 

President Gerald Ford presided over a televised pyrotechnic display in Washington, D.C. that seemed to set the celestial vault on fire. An international fleet of tall-masted sailing ships gathered in New York. A few folks even tossed bundles labeled “Gulf Oil” and “Exxon” into Boston Harbor during a tea party that took satiric political jabs at corporate power.

But the nation truly starting gearing up in 1975. Fire hydrants and mailboxes, like mood rings, turned red, white and blue almost overnight. It seemed like every consumer product -- from cereal to sneakers -- had a bicentennial version, complete with stars and stripes. Even Disneyland temporarily replaced its nightly extravaganza with one called “America on Parade.”

Americans were aglow with a patriotic fervor, hopeful that the pain of Vietnam and Watergate were finally behind us.

The American Freedom Train began chugging along its cross-country journey on April 1, 1975. With 26 cars and three newly restored steam locomotives, the train toured the Lower 48, ending its sojourn in Miami, FL on December 31, 1976.

At each stop, visitors road on a people-mover conveyor through the train’s 10 display cars. What they saw was captivating: more than 500 treasures of Americana. George Washington's personal copy of the Constitution. The original Louisiana Purchase. Judy Garland's dress from The Wizard of Oz. Joe Frazier's boxing trunks. Dr. Martin Luther King's pulpit and robes. Replicas of Jesse Owens' four Olympic gold medals. A moon rock brought back by the Apollo astronauts.

I found out about the Freedom Train from my fifth grade teacher. My school would be going to see the train on May 14, 1975, when it was scheduled to chug into Cleveland. I was ecstatic. I, too, was swept up in the fervor. I’d been collecting bicentennial coins and stamps. I had a T-shirt of a roller-skating rabbit bedecked in stars and stripes. I’d been drawn to bicentennial products, even Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Best of all, a field trip into Cleveland meant no classwork for the day.

Then my mom told me she’d received a phone call from my teacher. Seeing the train meant standing hours in line, climbing steps to a platform and more standing on the narrow conveyor belt. People with disabilities were not accommodated in any way. There were no apologies or rationalizations for this. Why would gimps need to go see it anyway?

I did not go to the Freedom Train. I spent the day at home watching game shows and soaps.

Yes, that was 40 years ago. Things have improved, I tell myself. Attitudes and the world around me have improved.

Yet just a block from my house, the street does not have curb ramps. When I go to doctors’ offices, there are no lowering exam tables that I can transfer to. When I drive through residential neighborhoods, I see multitudes of inaccessible houses and apartments. Restaurants have raised tables I cannot be seated at. New buildings are constructed with barriers in violation of current building code.

Then I wonder, when does the real “freedom train” arrive? The one without barriers? The nation that welcomes all?

I’m ready and waiting at the station.  

http://earthboundtomboy.blogspot.com/2015/04/when-does-freedom-train-arrive.html