ON INTERNET MEMES...

...AND OTHER UNQUESTIONED ACTS OF BIGOTRY 

by Heidi Johnson-Wright

EarthBound Tomboy

Perhaps by now you’ve seen the Internet meme making the rounds of a drawing of a guy in a wheelchair. He’s looking back over his shoulder, a sad, pathetic expression on his face. Surrounding him are the following words: “If you're (sic) spouse became disabled for the rest of there (sic) lives, would you still be with them???”

Yes, dear reader, it is taking all of the strength I can muster to resist calling the meme’s creator a moron incapable of knowing the difference between "you're" and "your" and “their” and “there,” or even knowing how to use a software grammar check function. And, yes, I am irritated with the use of the pronoun “them,” as if the question poses the hypothetical situation that this is a pluralist marriage that includes multiple partners who “became disabled” all at once. Perhaps it’s implying the crash of a plane on which the multiple marital partners were flying, or they all contracted a rare tropical disease while on safari together.

I also believe it is quite likely that anyone who uses three question marks in a row probably dots every letter “i” with a tiny heart. For that reason alone, the meme’s creator should be placed a stockade in the village square and bombarded with rotten produce.

 

Nevertheless, it’s not the meme’s grammatical atrocities that have inspired me to write this post. It is the sheer butt-puckering bigotry of the question being posed. Why is it an acceptable question worthy of an answer?

 

Would it be appropriate to ask: “If your spouse sent in DNA to 23 and Me and learned he/she had African ancestry, would you divorce him/her?” Or “If your spouse told you his/her grandparents emigrated from Uruguay, would you make him/her relocate permanently to the guest bedroom?” Or perhaps “If your spouse converted to Judaism, would you toss him/her off a cliff?”

 I’d like to think that most decent human beings would be appalled by questions about whether a spouse remains worthy of love even if he/she is of a different race, religion or country of national origin. Yet when it comes to disability, many people – such as those that actually answered the question on Facebook – feel it’s fine to weigh the option of giving walking papers to the person they married.

I’m not sure whether to be pissed off or profoundly sad that a quarter century after the passage of the ADA – the most comprehensive civil rights statute ever enacted to protect disabled folks from discrimination – societal attitudes remain in the Dark Ages. We continue to deny that illnesses and health issues are inextricably part of the human condition. We still cling to hierarchies, to notions of “us versus them,” to assigning value to other human beings based on their ability to meet an often unattainable ideal.

 Perhaps I should buy a more comfortable mattress for the guest bedroom.

http://earthboundtomboy.blogspot.com/2016/01/on-internet-memes-and-other.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