Follow Me On Twitter

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Push Girls premieres June 4

A reminder to folks in the USA that the first reality TV show focused on women wheelchair users begins June 4 on the Sundance Channel. If you don't get the Sundance Channel, I believe episodes will be online.

http://www.sundancechannel.com/push-girls/

I have been in touch with several people promoting Push Girls for the Sundance Channel, and I see lots of effort from the show to try to "get things right." Let's hope it does!

Just fyi.

Best, Beth

------------------------------
------------------------------------------
Beth A. Haller, Ph.D.
Professor, Journalism/New Media
Dept. of Mass Comm & Comm Studies
Towson University
8000 York Rd., Towson, MD 21252
Ph: 410-704-2442
Fax: 410-704-3656
My book: http://www.media-disability.net/
Web page: http://pages.towson.edu/bhalle/
Blog: http://media-dis-n-dat.blogspot.com/

Friday, May 25, 2012

  Prayers For My Father

May the One who was a source of blessing for our ancestors, bring blessings of healing upon my father, Leon Miller, a healing of body and a healing of spirit. May those in whose care he is entrusted, be gifted with wisdom and skill, and those who surround him, be gifted with love and trust, openness and support in his care. And may he be healed along with all those who are in need. Blessed are You, Source of healing. Amen.

 Prayer for the body Blessed are You, our Eternal God, Creator of the Universe, who has made our bodies in wisdom, creating openings, arteries, glands, and organs marvelous in structure, intricate in design. Should but one of them, by being blocked or opened, fail to function, it would be difficult to stand before You. Wondrous Fashioner and Sustainer of life, Source of our health and our strength, we give you thanks and praise. 

Prayer for healing Hear my prayer, O Lord, heed my plea for mercy.
In time of trouble I call You, for You will answer me.
When pain and illness are my companions, let there be room in my heart for strength.
When the days and nights are filled with darkness, let the light of courage find its place.
Help me endure the suffering and dissolve the fear; renew within me the calm spirit of trust and peace. 
We praise you, O God, Healer of the Sick.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

CFP: MEDIEVALISM(S) & DIVERSITY

CALL FOR PAPERS: 27TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEDIEVALISM:
MEDIEVALISM(S) & DIVERSITY****

Is there diversity in medievalism? How has medievalism represented
diversity of religion, race, nationality, ethnicity, sexuality, gender,...?
How have medievalist works supported issues concerning equity and
inclusion? How have medievalist works oppressed and suppressed? Are there
elements of bigotry and discrimination? What about human rights as a
medieval concept, as a contemporary concept? Media to consider might
include (but are not limited to) any of the following: novels, plays,
poetry, films, art works, the Internet, television, historical works,
political works, comics, video games. Angles to consider might include (but
are not limited to) any of the following: race, gender, sexuality,
disability/ability, religion, corporation and/or class, nationality, human
rights, political correctness, marginalization, anti-marginalization
tactics, rewritten codes, rewritten ideologies, re-affirmed codes,
re-affirmed ideologies.

27TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEDIEVALISM: MEDIEVALISM(S) & DIVERSITY****

(http://www.medievalism.net/conferences/ksu2012conference.html)****

There will be both the  traditional "Brick-n-Mortar" conference (Kent State
University Stark) and (new) a "Cloud Conference" online for those who are
unable to travel.  Student papers will be considered, but please also note
and encourage your students to participate in the STUDENT ESSAY CONTEST
(see below).

INFORMATION: 27TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEDIEVALISM: MEDIEVALISM(S) &
DIVERSITY****

(http://www.medievalism.net/conferences/ksu2012conference.html)****

DEADLINE: June 1, 2012

**

Send titles and abstracts to:****

Dr. Carol Robinson, Conference Chair****

Kent State University Trumbull****

4314 Mahoning Avenue, NW****

Warren, Ohio 44483****

clrobins@kent.edu****

FAX: 330-437-0490****

** THE BRICK-N-MORTAR CONFERENCE STRUCTURE: This is being hosted by Kent
State University Stark (October 18-20, 2012).

**

** THE CLOUD CONFERENCE STRUCTURE (password-protected): Those suffering
from the weak economy, we will still be providing a conference experience
online (at a cheaper rate).  The Cloud Conference part is being hosted
fully online by MEMO and members of the KSU Trumbull Campus (October 15 to
November 15, 2012).  Individuals will post papers (PDFs), videos
(YouTube),sound recordings, or other media online which will be either
hosted directly within the password-protected site or linked to from
outside the site (as in the case for YouTube video presentations).  Anyone
registered for the Brick-n-Mortar conference will have access to this part
of the conference as well and be able to comment/discuss presentations in
text format online.

**

** **

Publication Opportunities:****

Selected scholarly papers related to the conference theme will be published
in "The Year’s Work in Medievalism." ****

** **

============================**
**

STUDENT ESSAY CONTEST****

SPECIAL DEADLINE: July 15, 2012****

** **

DEADLINE: June 1, 2012****

** Send completed essays to:

**

Dr. Carol Robinson, Conference Chair****

Kent State University Trumbull****

4314 Mahoning Avenue, NW****

Warren, Ohio 44483****

clrobins@kent.edu****

FAX: 330-437-0490****

** **

RULES:****

1. Students must be college undergraduates currently enrolled for for
classes at their academic institution.****

2. Essays must address the theme "Medievalism(s) and Diversity" (see
description above).****

3. Essays must be MLA formatted, double-spaced, and in 12 point font.****

4. Essays must be submitted in PDF format via email or in paper format via
regular postal mail to either Dr. Carol L. Robinson or Dr. Elizabeth
Williamsen (see the addresses below).****

5. NO FAXED SUBMISSIONS!****

PRIZES****

1ST PLACE: The winning essay will be published in Medievally Speaking, be
mentioned on the International Society for the Study of Medievalism web
site, and receive $100.00 prize money. The paper will also be expected to
be presented in a Special Session at the 27th International Conference on
Medievalism.****

2ND PLACE: The essay that earns Second Place status will be mentioned on
the International Society for the Study of Medievalism web site, and
receive $75.00 prize money. The paper will also be expected to be presented
in a Special Session at the 27th International Conference on Medievalism.***
*

3RD PLACE: The essay that earns Third Place status will be mentioned on the
International Society for the Study of Medievalism web site, and receive
$50.00 prize money. The paper will also be expected to be presented in a
Special Session at the 27th International Conference on Medievalism.****

HONORABLE MENTION: Any essay that earns an Honorable Mention status (which
may or may not happen) will be mentioned on the International Society for
the Study of Medievalism web site. The paper might also be invited to be
presented in a Special Session at the 27th International Conference on
Medievalism. ****

** --
Tammy Berberi, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of French
Director of the Honors Program
University of Minnesota, Morris
office HUM 114 | x6264
spring 12 office hours:
    Tues / Thurs 2:30-3:30 & Fri 10-12 in ACE

Monday, May 21, 2012

May 24, 2012: United Kingdom's Human Rights Record To Be Reviewed By Human Rights Council

Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review to commence second cycle with thirteenth Working Group session to be held from 21 May to 4 June 2012


UPR Working Group to Review Human Rights Records of 14 States
15 May 2012
The thirteenth session of the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group will be held in Geneva from 21 May to 4 June during which the next group of 14 States will have their human rights records examined under this mechanism.  With the convening of this session, the UPR will have begun its second cycle of reviews. 

The group of States to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during this session are (in order of review): Bahrain, Ecuador, Tunisia, Morocco, Indonesia, Finland, United Kingdom, India, Brazil, Philippines, Algeria, Poland, the Netherlands, and South Africa.  The meeting will take place in Room XX at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. 

Representatives of the 14 countries will come before the Working Group, which comprises the entire membership of the 47-member Human Rights Council, to present efforts they have made in fulfilling their human rights obligations and commitments, assessing both positive developments and identifying challenges.  As an integral part of the second cycle of the UPR, States under Review will also spell out the steps they have taken to implement accepted recommendations posed to them during their first review.  The reports serving as the basis for these reviews can be found at the following link: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/Documentation.aspx

Speaking on the occasion of the conclusion of the first cycle of the UPR during the last session of the Working Group in October 2011, the President of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Laura Dupuy Lasserre, described the UPR as "unique process”, which provided “a comprehensive map on human rights situations around the globe.”  She added that the second cycle would prove to be a “moment of truth” for many.

For her part, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, speaking at the Council's last session in March this year, said the second cycle “will test the mechanism’s value and credibility.”  She called on States “to be impartial, objective and realistic in assessing the human rights situation and putting forward new recommendations".

During the session, an interactive dialogue between the country under review and the Council will take place in the Working Group.  Each country review will last three and one-half hours and an additional half hour will be devoted to the adoption of the Working Group's report for each country. The review for each State will be facilitated by groups of three Council members from different regional groups, or troikas, who will act as rapporteurs.  The troikas for the upcoming 13th session were selected through a drawing of lots on 3 May.  The list of troikas for the 13th session can be found at the following link:  http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.aspx

The final outcome of the session will be adopted by the plenary of the Council at its twenty-first regular session taking place in September 2012.

About the Universal Periodic Review

General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006, which created the Human Rights Council, mandated the Council to "undertake a universal periodic review, based on objective and reliable information, of the fulfilment by each State of its human rights obligations and commitments in a manner which ensures universality of coverage and equal treatment with respect to all States; the review shall be a cooperative mechanism, based on an interactive dialogue, with the full involvement of the country concerned and with consideration given to its capacity-building needs; such a mechanism shall complement and not duplicate the work of treaty bodies."

Subsequently, the Universal Periodic Review mechanism was established through the adoption by the Council of its “institution-building package” - HRC resolution 5/1 - on 18 June 2007, one year after its first meeting.  Among the elements of this package was the new Universal Periodic Review mechanism, which aims to ensure that all United Nations Member States, starting with the members of the Council, have their records examined in order to improve human rights conditions worldwide. Furthermore, the Council decided that these reviews would be conducted on one working group composed of the 47 members of the Council.

The UPR Working Group consequently held its inaugural session in April 2008 for the first group of States, the order for which was decided through the drawing of lots.  With the holding of this first session the first cycle took off through which all 193 United Nations Member States have had their human rights records reviewed over a four-year period; this includes South Sudan which became a Member State during the course of the first cycle.

Per Human Rights Council resolution 16/21 adopted on 25 March 2011 and decision 17/119 pertaining to the review of the Council, the second and subsequent cycles of the UPR should focus on, inter alia, the implementation of the accepted recommendations and the developments of the human rights situation in the State under review.  This resolution and decision also established that the periodicity of the review for the second and subsequent cycles will be four and a half years, instead of four, and thus 42 States would be reviewed per year during three sessions of the UPR Working Group.  Moreover, the order of reviews established for the first cycle was to be maintained.  The calendar of State reviews for the second cycle can be found at the following link:  http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.aspx

UPR Reporting and Objectives

In accordance with the Council’s “institution-building package”, and as reinforced by the outcome of the Council’s review adopted last March, the three documents on which State reviews should be based are information prepared by the State concerned, which could be presented either orally or in writing; information contained in the reports of treaty bodies and Special Procedures, to be compiled in a report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); and information provided by other relevant stakeholders to the UPR including non-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions, human rights defenders, academic institutions and research institutes, regional organizations, as well as civil society representatives, also to be summarized by OHCHR in a separate document.

Per the adopted institution-building package, the objectives of the Universal Periodic Review are: the improvement of the human rights situation on the ground; fulfilment of the State's human rights obligations and commitments and assessment of positive developments and challenges faced by the State; the enhancement of the State's capacity and of technical assistance, in consultation with, and with the consent of, the State concerned; the sharing of best practice among States and other stakeholders; support for cooperation in the promotion and protection of human rights; and, the encouragement of full cooperation and engagement with the Council, other human rights bodies and OHCHR.

Provisional Timetable for the Universal Periodic Review Working Group 13th Session:

Monday, 21 May


09h00 – 12h30         Review of Bahrain
14h30 – 18h00         Review of Ecuador

Tuesday, 22 May

09h00 – 12h30         Review of Tunisia
14h30 – 18h00         Review of Morocco

Wednesday, 23 May

09h00 – 12h30         Review of Indonesia
14h30 – 18h00         Review of Finland

Thursday, 24 May

09h00 – 12h30         Review of United Kingdom

14h30 – 18h00         Review of India

Friday, 25 May

09h00 – 12h30         Review of Brazil
15h00 – 18h00         Adoption of reports on Bahrain, Ecuador, Tunisia, Morocco, Indonesia and Finland

Tuesday, 29 May
09h00 – 12h30         Review of Philippines
14h30 – 18h00         Review of Algeria

Wednesday, 30 May

10h00 – 11h30         Adoption of reports on United Kingdom, India and Brazil

14h00 – 18h00         Review of Poland

Thursday, 31 May


09h00 – 12h30         Review of the Netherlands
14h30 – 18h00         Review of South Africa

Friday, 1 June

15h00 – 16h30         Adoption of reports on Philippines, Algeria and Poland

Monday, 4 June

15h00 – 16h00         Adoption of reports on the Netherlands and South Africa

Additional information on the Universal Periodic Review mechanism, including the reports for each country review can be located at the Universal Periodic Review webpage on the OHCHR website: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.aspx

Media contact
:  Rolando Gomez, Public Information Officer, OHCHR, + 41(0)22 917 9711, rgomez@ohchr.org

Call for Papers: What a Life: Stage Dramas Negotiate Disability, Illness, and Facing Death

http://nemla.org/convention/2013/cfp_transnationalliteratures.html

Call for Papers: What a Life: Stage Dramas Negotiate Disability, Illness, and Facing Death

44th Annual Convention Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) March 21-24, 2013 Boston, Massachusetts

The 44th Annual Convention will feature approximately 350 sessions, as well as dynamic speakers and cultural events. Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA session; however, panelists can only present one paper (panel or seminar). Convention participants may present a paper at a panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable.

Abstract Deadline: September 30, 2012

What a Life: Stage Dramas Negotiate Disability, Illness, and Facing Death

Since Brian Clark’s ‘Whose Life is it Anyway?’ how have stage dramas around the world negotiated a relationship to disability, chronic illness, or terminal disease using live performance to make those negotiations meaningful to audiences? Send 250-500 word abstracts (MSWord or PDF attachment) with brief bio and ‘drama’ in the subject heading to Lynda Goldstein at lyndagoldstein@psu.edu

Call for Papers: Poetry and the Body

http://nemla.org/convention/2013/cfp_womensstudies.html

Call for Papers: Poetry and the Body

44th Annual Convention Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) March 21-24, 2013 Boston, Massachusetts

The 44th Annual Convention will feature approximately 350 sessions, as well as dynamic speakers and cultural events. Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA session; however, panelists can only present one paper (panel or seminar). Convention participants may present a paper at a panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable.

Abstract Deadline: September 30, 2012

Poetry and the Body

Papers for this panel should consider how poets represent bodies, how poetry is embodied by poets in performance, and/or how poetry may require an embodied experience of its audience. Topics may respond to theories of embodiment and material feminism; they may respond to any variety of related poetry, for example, Eliot’s Prufrock, Rich’s lesbian feminist voice, Doty’s bodies with AIDS, performance poetry, or even ambient poetry’s expectations of embodied poetic reading. Please send 250-500 word abstracts to Kirsten Ortega at kortega@uccs.edu.

Call for Papers: Disability and its Discontents (Seminar)

http://nemla.org/convention/2013/cfp_theory.html

Call for Papers: Disability and its Discontents (Seminar)

44th Annual Convention Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) March 21-24, 2013 Boston, Massachusetts

The 44th Annual Convention will feature approximately 350 sessions, as well as dynamic speakers and cultural events. Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA session; however, panelists can only present one paper (panel or seminar). Convention participants may present a paper at a panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable.

Abstract Deadline: September 30, 2012

Disability and its Discontents (Seminar)

Recent theorizations of disability tend either to abstract disabled experience to the point of ontological indistinction or conceptualize it in terms of well-established theoretical discourses. While these moves have expanded disability studies’ potential interdisciplinary applications, they also give rise to a question that is crucial to the future of disability studies: What makes disability a different means of approaching identity theory? Please submit 250-500 word abstracts to Joel_Simundich@brown.edu and Jessica_Tabak@brown.edu.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

New blog on blindness and disability

I wanted to share a new blog of a dear friend of mine on blindness and
disability: "The blind optimist." The writer is a master student in English
from Israel, blind from the age of 3, who opened the blog only a few days
ago.
I hope you will enjoy it, this is the link:
http://www.theblindoptimist.com/
Best,
Gili Hammer

Saturday, May 19, 2012

International Day of Persons with Disabilities, December 3, 2012 - Plan to Celebrate - Organize - Take Action

Plan an event

International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3 December 2012

http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1597

Theme: Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all

Background:

Over one billion people, or approximately 15 per cent of the world’s population, live with some form of disability.

Persons with disabilities, “the world’s largest minority”, often face barriers to participation in all aspects of society  hindering access to education, employment, health care, transportation, political participation or justice.

Evidence and experience shows that when barriers are removed  the entire community benefits.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) recognizes that the existence of barriers constitutes a central component of disability. Under the Convention, disability is an evolving concept that “results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.”

The commemoration of International Day of Persons with Disabilities in 2012 provides an opportunity to address this exclusion by focusing on promoting accessibility and removing all types of barriers in society.

How the Day may be observed

Based on the main theme of IDPD 2012 “Removing barriers to create an inclusive and
accessible society for all”.

Organize: Hold forums, public discussions and information campaigns in support of the themes of IDPD 2012 to find innovative ways and means by which barriers to the inclusion of persons with disabilities and their families can be broken down.

Celebrate: Plan and organize performances everywhere to showcase - and celebrate - the contributions made by persons with disabilities as agents of change and development in the communities in which they live.

Take Action: A major focus of the Day is practical action that would help to remove barriers that limit accessibility for and participation by persons with disabilities in all aspects of society and development.  Highlight progress and obstacles in creating accessible and inclusive society, including in terms of physical environments, information and communications technology and other areas, as well as promote public awareness of existing barriers to the full inclusion of persons with disabilities in their societies.

http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1597





Thursday, May 17, 2012

[UK Event] CCDS Seminar: Dr. Alice Hall —Foreign Bodies: Disability and Beauty in Toni Morrison's Writing

Foreign Bodies: Disability and Beauty in Toni Morrison's Writing



Dr. Alice Hall

Université Paris-Diderot



Date: Wednesday 27 June 2012



Time: 3.15pm–4.45pm

Place: Eden 109, Liverpool Hope University



This paper examines the relationship between disability and beauty as a
central preoccupation of Toni Morrison’s fictional writing, her critical
discourse and her most recent work as a curator. I am interested in how
Morrison’s critical writing about race and identity intersects with
shifting notions of beauty in her fiction, but also, in turn, how these
ideas can provide a conceptual framework for writing about literature and
disability in general.

For more information, please contact:



Dr. David Bolt

Director, Centre for Culture & Disability Studies
ccds.hope.ac.uk

Editor, Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies
http://JLCDS.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk

Lecturer, Education and Disability Studies
http://www.hope.ac.uk/boltd

Founder, International Network of Literary & Cultural Disability Scholars
http://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Network-of-Literary-and-
Cultural-Disability-Scholars/174137315933446

http://twitter.com/#!/INLCDS

Email: boltd@hope.ac.uk

Telephone: 0151 291 3346

Office: EDEN 128

Postal address: Graduate School, Faculty of Education, Liverpool Hope
University, Liverpool, L16 9JD.

Coming soon: The Madwoman and The Blindman: Jane Eyre, Discourse,
Disability, edited by David Bolt, Julia Miele Rodas, and Elizabeth J.
Donaldson
http://www.ohiostatepress.org/books/book%20pages/bolt%20madwoman.html

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

My Response To "Move Needed" Column By Louise Allonby


Dear Ms. Allonby,
 
I am a 55 year old Disability Studies specialist from Montreal, Canada—and have been reporting to the United Nations on the plight of the sick and disabled in the U.K. due to the austerity measures and the welfare reforms which you praise in your column. 
 
No one disputes the need for welfare reform or the benefit of gainful employment for sick and disabled people. But reforms need to be properly devised, and sadly this is not the case here. In fact, the reforms are doing a great deal of harm.
 
 
There is no mention in your article of the NOT fit-for-purpose Work Capability Assessments as performed by Atos Healthcare.  Are you not aware of the recent resignation of Paul Farmer, CEO of the mental health  charity Mind, from the WCA oversight panel?  Here is his resignation letter (http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/04/02/mind-chief-executive-paul-farmers-resignation-statement-dwpwca-review-panel/); I suggest that you read it and gain some insight.
 
Furthermore, the British Medication Association will be voting on motions later this month which call for an end to the Atos assessments: (See:  http://www.twitlonger.com/show/hd9g57)
 
Another objection is your failure to even mention the suicides of sick and disabled people that Sonia Poulton of the Daily Mail has brought to the attention of that newspaper's readers.  For the purpose of brevity, see my letter to Minister Chris Grayling (http://www.twitlonger.com/show/h25ir6) and my blog piece (http://mydisabilitystudiesblackboard.blogspot.ca/2012/04/open-letter-to-sick-and-disabled-people.html)
 
 
In closing, I invite you to e-mail me at disabilityinliterature@gmail.com to discuss this matter further.
 
--
Samuel Miller
E-Mail: disabilityinliterature@gmail.com
Blog: Hephaestus: Disability Studies
http://illnessandcivilization.blogspot.com/
Blog: My Disability Studies Blackboard
http://mydisabilitystudiesblackboard.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Hephaestus7
(Montreal, Canada)
 
P.S.  My followers on Twitters seem to like my tweet:
 
London Paralympic Games to be cancelled after Atos Healthcare's disability descriptors define participating athletes as "able-bodied."
 

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Minnesota Symposium on Disability Studies

Dear All,

This summer, the third annual Minnesota Symposium on Disability Studies
will be taking place at the University of Minnesota.  The theme of this
year's Symposium, "Perspectives: Past, Present and Future of Disability
Studies," seeks to explore the challenges and opportunities presented by
continually evolving notions of disability and changes in the field of
Disability Studies.

We hope to attract a wide range of participants, both presenters and
audience members, and encourage you to consider being part of it.  The Call
for Papers is copied below and available online:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/gara0030/iggds/2012/05/minnesota-symposium-on-disability-studies-third-annual-conference.html.
 We welcome you to distribute it widely.

The deadline for submissions is May 30; if you are interested in submitting
a paper, we welcome any questions. Paper submission guidelines are in the
CFP.

Thanks so much,
Rachel Garaghty
Programming Committee Chair

 Minnesota Symposium on Disability Studies

University of Minnesota

July 27-28, 2012



*Call for Papers*

*Perspectives: Past, Present and Future of Disability Studies***

* *

The disability community is at a crossroads: many historic victories have
been made for rights and inclusion while the emergence of Disability
Studies as a field has expanded boundaries of knowledge, understanding and
experience. Yet, new demands and challenges at many crossroads threaten the
advances made by the disability community and force us to reconsider our
own assumptions and adapt to emerging issues.  This year’s Disability
Studies Symposium will focus on the history and future of disability rights
under the theme, “Perspectives: Past, Present and Future of Disability
Studies.” This symposium will bring together scholars and professionals
working in disability studies or disability-related fields for a weekend of
shared research, community and dynamic interdisciplinary discussion.



*Paper Submissions*

Successful submissions for papers will reflect a nuanced, critical
understanding of: disability rights as an evolving concept, the
implications of disability studies on fields of practice over time, and the
changing influences people with disabilities have on society.  Authors may
submit scholarly articles or narratives/stories, but all submissions must
demonstrate thoughtful analysis and high quality scholarship.



Please submit a 250-word abstract of your paper to be considered. Authors
of selected abstracts will be asked to submit an 8-page (double-spaced)
version or summary of their full papers.



*Dates and Location*

The Minnesota Symposium on Disability Studies will take place at the
University of Minnesota's Minneapolis campus on July 27-28th. This
symposium is the result of collaboration between the Interdisciplinary
Graduate Group in Disability Studies, the School of Music, Disability
Services and the Office for Equity and Diversity at the University of
Minnesota. Rooms at the University Days Inn will be reserved for symposium
participants at the very reasonable conference rate of $75 but participants
will have to cover the full cost of lodging.  The hotel provides breakfast
and has a free local shuttle service.



Thanks to the generosity of The Office of Graduate Education, there will be
no registration fee for participants at the symposium and most additional
meals will be provided. Updates about the symposium will be posted at:



http://blog.lib.umn.edu/gara0030/iggds/



* *

*Abstracts are due by May 30, 2012 and should be sent as an attachment to
both Joanna O’Connell (oconn001@umn.edu) and Rachel Garaghty (
gara0030@umn.edu).**  **Questions may be addressed to either of the above.**
*

* *



Minnesota Symposium on Disability Studies

--
Rachel Garaghty
Master of Public Policy, 2011
Humphrey School of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota
USA

E-mail: rachel.garaghty@gmail.com
Mobile: +1 651 270 1824

Sunday, May 13, 2012

A Prayer For Sue Marsh, U.K. Disability Campaigner Currently In Hospital (@suey2y on Twitter)

May the One who was a source of blessing for our ancestors, bring blessings of healing upon Sue Marsh, a healing of body and a healing of spirit. May those in whose care she is entrusted, be gifted with wisdom and skill, and those who surround her, be gifted with love and trust, openness and support in her care. And may she be healed along with all those who are in need. Blessed are You, Source of healing. Amen.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

CFP: Improving Feminist Philosophy and Theory By Taking Account of Disability (deadline: Sept. 1, 2012)

Call for submissions to a special issue of Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ)

Improving Feminist Philosophy and Theory by Taking Account of Disability
Guest editor: Shelley Tremain, PhD

A growing body of literature demonstrates that disabled people confront poverty, discrimination in employment and housing, sexual abuse and violence, limited educational opportunities, incarceration, and social isolation to a far greater extent than their non-disabled counterparts and furthermore that disabled women experience the impact of these disabling social and political phenomena even more severely than do disabled men.  Although feminism is purported to be a social, political, and cultural movement that represents all women, disabled feminists have long argued that the concerns, political struggles, and socio-cultural issues that directly affect disabled women (and disabled people more generally) remain marginalized, and often ignored, within mainstream feminist movements.

Feminist theorists and researchers in the university produce and reproduce this marginalization and exclusion through a variety of mechanisms, one of which is their use of the apparently intransigent conceptual schemas and theoretical frameworks of “gender, race, and sexuality” and “gender, race, and class.”  In the terms of these conceptions and frameworks, disability is naturalized, rather than construed as a relation of social power in which everyone ─ disabled and non-disabled ─ is implicated: each disabled person is perceived to embody a particular disability, while non-disabled people are taken for granted as representatives of the universal human, the prototype from which disabled people depart.  That disabled (and non-disabled) feminist philosophers and theorists of disability have few venues in which to present and publish their work, as well as fewer opportunities for employment in the university, are among the consequences of
 these marginalizing and exclusionary frameworks and schemas.

Consider the following.  Job postings in philosophy do not identify disability as a hegemonic category or form of identity and subjecting power intertwined, and on a par, with gender, race, sexuality, and class and hence similarly appropriate for philosophical specialization.  In 2011-2012, none of the respective annual conference programs of the three divisions of the national philosophical association in the US (with a combined international membership of more than 10,000) included an invited symposium, refereed session, or even a single invited or refereed paper on disability. Furthermore, the leading journal in feminist philosophy has not published an issue devoted to disability and disabled women in a decade, publishing only a handful of articles on disability in the interim. In addition, the flagship journal of the largest women’s studies association in the US has not published an issue on disability and disabled women in the last decade.
  Finally, the editorial boards of academic feminist journals seldom include specialists in disability studies, with the consequence that the work of feminist philosophers/theorists of disability is oftentimes reviewed and adjudicated by (non-disabled) feminists who have a limited, even conventional, medicalized, understanding of the epistemological, ontological, ethical, and political implications of, and phenomena surrounding, disability. 

This special issue of Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ) ─ the first and foremost journal in disability studies internationally ─ will bring attention to new work in feminist philosophy of disability and feminist disability theory.  The central aim of the issue is to elevate and advance the current status of feminist philosophy of disability/feminist disability theory in feminist and non-feminist academic discourses and, in doing so, challenge the way in which heretofore feminist philosophy and theory have been conceptualized and (re)produced.

Submissions may take any philosophical or theoretical approach to disability that is grounded in feminist political values and goals (broadly construed).  The guest editor especially encourages submissions from feminist philosophers and theorists of disability living outside of North America and the global North.  Among the topics that might be addressed in submissions are these:  
       * The conceptual and material costs of limiting feminist theory and analyses to the gender, race, and sexuality matrix and the gender, race, and class matrix
       * Gender, race, and sexuality/class matrices and schemas as epistemologies of ignorance
       * Ableist language and philosophy of language/feminist philosophy of language
       * Disabled people (in general) and disabled women (in particular) as knowers and holders of epistemically privileged perspectives and standpoints
       * Disability and ableism in mainstream and feminist bioethics
       * Ageism and sizeism as forms of ableism and disability
       * Transnational disability and the globalization of philosophical ableism
       * Disabling classifications of intelligence, race, color, impairment, morphology, sex, sexuality, and gender in modern science and philosophy of science and postcolonial critiques of these
       * Race, disability, normality, and “racism against the abnormal”
       * Disability, representations of beauty, purity, wholeness, and conceptions of ugliness, pollution, incompleteness in (feminist) aesthetics and philosophy of art
       * Disability and/in the history of philosophy and the disabling narrative of western philosophy’s self-conception
       * Mad at school: neurodiversity, participation, productivity, collegiality, and resistance
       * Disabled feminists, queer crips, and trans gimps at the front of the classroom
       * Ableist privilege in/and feminist theory and philosophy
       * Philosophy of education, disability, and the ethics and politics of the (in)accessible feminist classroom/conference
       * The ethics and politics of “passing” as non-disabled within and beyond the university
       * Elaborations and critiques of the ethics of care as an ethic for disabled people
       * Feminist accounts and critiques of disability and distributive justice
       * Disabled people as cyborgs in/up against feminist science and technology studies
Submissions should be no more than 8,000 words in length (inclusive of notes and bibliography), should be prepared for anonymous peer review, with no self-identifying elements in the text or reference material, and accompanied by an abstract of 200 words.  Submissions and all inquiries about the issue should be sent to Shelley Tremain at: s.tremain@yahoo.ca with the subject line “DSQ  FEMDIS”.  

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: September 1, 2012.
NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCES: on or before November 30, 2012.
DATE OF PUBLICATION: Fall 2013

Friday, May 11, 2012

A Prayer For Sue Marsh, U.K. Disability Campaigner Currently In Hospital (@suey2y on Twitter)

May the One who was a source of blessing for our ancestors, bring blessings of healing upon Sue Marsh, a healing of body and a healing of spirit. May those in whose care she is entrusted, be gifted with wisdom and skill, and those who surround her, be gifted with love and trust, openness and support in her care. And may she be healed along with all those who are in need. Blessed are You, Source of healing. Amen.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Body Silent

Dear Friends,

Drunken Boat, an online journal of art and literature, just released a folio
of nonfiction, "The Body Silent," by Suzanne Paolo and Heather Bryant. My
essay appears alongside work by Amy Bergen, Barbara Ellen Sorensen, Chivas
Sandage, Eric LeMay, Ioanna Opidee, Jessica Handler, Kisha Lewellyn Schlegel
and Supriya Bhatnagar.

http://www.drunkenboat.com/db15/non-fiction

The issue also features a review of Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of
Disability (eds. Bartlett, Black and Northen).
http://www.drunkenboat.com/db15/beauty-is-a-verb

All best,

Jillian

**********
Jillian Weise, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Clemson University
jweise@clemson.edu

Update about Karina from Denmark by Rebecca Hansen

Karina is still alive and still at home.

The familys lawyer is advising them and will guard
Karinas rights. This lawyer has had many cases with ME patients and he understands the disease.

Thanks to Greg Crowhurst - http://www.stonebird.co.uk - and
perhaps others - the Danish Embassy in London
became aware of the case and contacted the Danish
Board of Health.

[]

The Embassy is taking this case very seriously. There is
pressure on the Danish government from many sides
now to treat this case correctly.

The power of facebook!

Yesterday the Board of Health contacted a
neuropsychologist about Karinas case. He was asked to
contact Dr. Isager and to have the two of them look into
the case.

We see it as a positive step that the Board of Health is
asking for Dr. Isagers opinion in this case.

Dr. Isager has devoted years to helping ME patients,
making home visits and helping them when no one else
would.

He has endless heartbreaking stories about the cases he
has seen in his years of helping these abandoned
patients.

I have the highest respect for Dr. Isager. He wrote a
book in Danish last year called Blinde Pletter: Blind
Spots - on the Medical and Health Sectors Amputated
Reality: http://bit.ly/ILbAZH

It is about the blind spots the medical profession has for
diseases like ME and a criticism of the way the Danish
Health system treats them.

It is our hope that the Board of Health and the
neuropsychologist will listen to Dr. Isagers advice about
how to treat Karina.

What we want right now is to get Karina the medical
assistance she needs to keep her alive.

As for the neuropsychologist - I will not give out the
name because I dont want this person bombarded by
mails.

We sent information about ME to this person and have
offered to be of assistance in any way we can. We are
working to keep the tone professional and friendly.

We, the ME Association, hope that this case can start a
constructive dialog with the Danish Board of Health
about what ME is and how these patients can be helped.

I am sorry that I cant share more right now, but please
know that if anything happens with Karina I will post
immediately.


Rebecca

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

My April 26 Letter To The Leveson Inquiry

Subject: Inflammatory Media Attacks On Sick And Disabled People In The U.K.

Dear Leveson Inquiry, 

I am a 55-year-old Disability Studies specialist, stock market trader, and a disabled person (born with cerebral palsy) from Montreal, Canada.  For the past several months, I've been reporting  to the UN Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (SRCPD), in New York City, regarding Britain's Welfare Reform Bill and the plight of the long-term disabled and seriously ill population in your country.

I've also been reporting to the UN SCRPD on the inflammatory media attacks on long-term sick and disabled people in the U.K.  Suffice it to say that
The Sun's "benefit cheats" campaign does incalculable harm, slandering genuine sick and disabled people by implication and likely is a contributing factor to the rise in disability hate crime (physical and verbal attacks). I've read numerous benefit cheat articles, and on no occasion have either Lord Freud or Disability Minister Maria Miller made an effort to defend the reputation of the genuine sick and disabled—the vast majority of whom are not benefit cheats. (When I e-mailed Maria Maria on February 28, 2012, I received an auto-reply but never a formal response.  I had requested that she send the offending newspapers—the Daily Mail also has published similar benefit cheat stories—cease and desist letters.)

The recent revelations (the undue influence of the government on the press) from this Inquiry beg the question: Did the government merely "endorse" The Sun's benefit cheats campaign or did it impose it?

I humbly request that the Inquiry not reject this brief letter outright due to my perceived lack of standing in British affairs. 
This blog piece (http://mydisabilitystudiesblackboard.blogspot.ca/2012/04/open-letter-to-sick-and-disabled-people.html), which also contains a recent letter that I wrote to Minister Chris Grayling, adequately summarizes my background and involvement in the above-mentioned crisis.  I firmly believe that my concerns are justified and need to be heard, even though I reside across the pond.

Thanking you for listening.

Samuel Miller.



--
Samuel Miller
E-Mail: disabilityinliterature@gmail.com
Blog: Hephaestus: Disability Studies
http://illnessandcivilization.blogspot.com/
Blog: My Disability Studies Blackboard
http://mydisabilitystudiesblackboard.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Hephaestus7
(Montreal, Canada)





Saturday, May 5, 2012

Call for Papers: Deaf World/Hearing World: Space, Techniques, and Things in Culture and History at Max Planck Institute in Berlin--Dec 10-11



*Deaf World/Hearing World: Spaces, Techniques, and Things in Culture and History* --Sponsored by the Max Planck Institute in Berlin and Project Biocultures, University of Illinois at Chicago.


The history of deafness presents an exemplary model of a community’s
mobilization for the recognition of a cultural identity. It is also an unequaled history of divisions across a broad range of pedagogy, techniques, and scientific inventions. Across the last four centuries at least, constructions of deafness as a cultural identity and/or as a disability have lead to opposite claims. Deafness became a focal point for arguments over citizenship, eugenics, language, theories of the mind, and the like. A different set of categories was produced to give voice to these claims and the dialogue between their supporters has been extremely difficult for lack of a common
stake. Depending on the approach, one can say such a heated debate has given the question of deafness a very specific place among human variations. Sign language, in particular, has lead many to question the relationship between mind, body, and language. We welcome papers on the social, cultural, scientific and philosophical attempts to mediate the space between the deaf and the hearing across history. Topics include the use of objects and techniques for creating a space of encounter, conceptions of the relationship between humans and language, language and thought, or language and society across time and space. We are seeking explorations of the dialectic
between hearing and silence, deaf and hearing as well as the technologies and ideologies that intervene between the deaf world and the hearing world, the deaf person and the hearing person.


The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin in
conjunction with Project Biocultures at the University of Illinois at Chicago will host the conference on December 10-11, 2012 in Berlin. Please send your abstract to Thu-Tra Dang ttdang@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de by July 3, 2012. Scholars will be informed by July 23 if their abstract has been selected. A travel fund is available, please let us know when submitting your abstract if you need an allowance to cover part of your trip.


The conference will be in English and in sign language. The Max Planck
Institute will welcome interpreters to make possible presentations in sign language. To facilitate the organization, please contact us as soon as possible if you need an interpreter of American/British/national sign language. Please mention the contact information of a couple of interpreters.


If you have questions please contact Sabine Arnaud at
sarnaud@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de, or Lennard Davis at lendavis@uic.edu
If you plan to attend the conference without giving a paper and require
special assistance, please send an email to Thu-Tra Dang ttdang@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de


--
Lennard J. Davis
Distinguished Professor, College of Liberal  Arts and Sciences
Department of English
Department of Disability and Human Development
Department of Medical Education
Visiting Distinguished Professor, Fordham University (Spring 2012)
Director, Project Biocultures
www.biocultures.org


Mailing Address:
Department of English (MC 162)
University of Illinois at Chicago
601 South Morgan Street
Chicago, Illinois 60607-7120
Office: UH 2020
Phone: 312 413 8910
Fax: 347-346-6619
e-mail: lendavis@uic.edu, lennard.davis@gmail.com
Website: www.lennarddavis.com
Obsession: A History--website:
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=283491
Go Ask Your Father--website:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/9780553805512.html
Editor, Routledge Series Integrating Science and Culture
http://www.routledge.com/books/series/just_the_factsand_more_JUSTFACT/

Friday, May 4, 2012

Update on Karina, a seriously ill ME patient

RGENT HELP NEEDED FOR SERIOUSLY ILL ME PATIENT pls #humanrights #Mecfs #NeuroME #
In the UK we are aware of the case of Sofia Mirza http://www.sophiaandme.org.uk/ the same mistakes and ignorance that are being seen in Karina's case led to sofia's death.
Karina is so very ill we are v afraid that the move may kill her too.
From: Marry Molendijk <molendijk40@zonnet.nl>


Update on Karina:

Thanks for all the support and good advice I have gotten from
around the world. So great to feel the power of the
ME-community. Here is more info on the situation.

Nothing is happening today. The family is waiting for a
message from the caseworker from the Board of Health. I
am verifying that person?s name now and will share it later.
The facts are that a meeting was held about Karina?s case
at which a Board of Health doctor stated that they ?equate
ME with insanity? and suggested the girl be forcibly removed
from her home. The family is asking for a copy of the notes
from this meeting and a list of the doctors at this meeting.
We are also asking for their plan of action for her if they do
remove her.

That is all I know today ? but will post again as soon as
anything develops. Now the family has to wait until the case
worker calls them. They don?t know how long that will be.
And there is a long weekend coming up ? Friday is a holiday
in Denmark ? Big Praying Day. Seems fitting in a way?

Here is a little more background info about Karina and her
case.

Her name is Karina Hansen and she lives in Holstebro,
Denmark. She has been sick since she was 16 ? after an
Epstein-Barr infection.

Because of lack of understanding about her condition, she
was encouraged to exercise. Which always led to a
worsening of her condition.

On May 12th, 2010, her GP pushed her parents into
admitting Karina to the hospital for ?rehabilitation?. While she
was there, the GP tried to get her committed to a
psychiatric hospital. They were not able to do it, as Karina
is not mentally ill. She has been evaluated several times
and found mentally healthy.

During this time I put them in contact with Dr. Isager, the
Danish ME expert. He was able to get Karina out of the
hospital and gave her a diagnosis of ME. The hospitalization
made her so sick that she has since been completely
bed-bound, lives in a dark room and can?t tolerate any noise.
Her family lives in a trailer in the yard . It is so painful for her
to be touched that her mom has not been able to wash her
for 2 years. She grows weaker by the day. Dr. Isager
suggested that she have an IV put in at home in order to
keep her alive. Her new GP has been very good and tried
everything she can to make this happen.

So? there is a good ME-expert involved but the government
does not recognize him as an expert in ME. And Karna has
a good GP. But the government officials and the specialists
at the hospitals are blocking her from getting the help she
needs.

If you would like to write to public officials
about her case, here are the basic addresses:

Ministry of Health sum@sum.dk

Board of Health sst@sst.dk


I will try to find more specific ones later.

What we are asking for is:

That they listen to the advice of Dr. Isager and her GP.
(Sorry I can?t give out her name until I ok it with her.)

To have the Board of Health and Ministry of Health respect
the WHO code for ME G93.3 and treat it as a neurological
disease.

To remove the incorrect information about ME from official
websites. ( it is listed under 3 codes here and called
kronisk trFthedsyndrom ? chronic tiredness syndrome)

http://laegehaandbogen.dk/legehandbogen/generelt/kronisk-trethedssyndrom-1314.html

Here it is called somatoform or functional somatic syndrome

https://www.sundhed.dk/sundhedsfaglig/praksisinformation/almen-praksis/hovedstaden/patientforloeb/forloebsbeskrivelser-icpc/p-psykisk/somatoform-lidelse/

it is because of sites like these that the misinformation
about ME exists and thrives in Denmark

And last but not least ? to have the government recommend
the ICC criteria to diagnose ME.



Again - thanks for all the support and help. I felt so helpless
last night when I got the call from Karina?s mom ? but today I
have hope that together we can create real awareness
about ME. Thanks for that.

Rebecca

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Disability in Australia--Ramp Up's Stella Young

Don't miss Australia's multi-faceted Stella Young on this month’s "Telling Our Disability Stories" podcast.  If you like the BBC Blog and Internet talk show “Ouch,” don’t miss discovering the Australian Broadcast Corporation’s disability news site “Ramp Up.” Whether or not you are familiar with neither or both, you will find out about “Ramp Up,” and its editor, Stella Young in her interview.

Stella Young is a comedian, disability advocate and Editor of the ABC (Australia) Ramp Up, the online space for news, discussion and opinion about disability in Australia. She was a two-time state finalist in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Raw Comedy competition; and has hosted eight seasons of Australia’s first disability culture program No Limits. If she could get away with it, she’d spend a very large percentage of her spare time knitting.

“Telling Our Disability Stories” is a monthly podcast and features Anthony Tusler’s in-depth interviews with notable people from the world-wide disability community.  It is sponsored by the Accessible Technology Coalition in partnership with the California Emerging Technology Fund.

An mp3 is located at: http://atcoalition.org/podcast-media/2012/2012-Apr-TODS-Young.mp3 and on iTunes.

Best,

Anthony

Anthony Tusler
http://AboutDisability.com

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Update On Karina

Update on Karina: Thanks for all the support and good advice I have gotten from
around the world. So great to feel the power of the
ME-community. Here is more info on the situation.

Nothing is happening today. The family is waiting for a
message from the caseworker from the Board of Health. I
am verifying that person?s name now and will share it later.
The facts are that a meeting was held about Karina?s case
at which a Board of Health doctor stated that they ?equate
ME with insanity? and suggested the girl be forcibly removed
from her home. The family is asking for a copy of the notes
from this meeting and a list of the doctors at this meeting.
We are also asking for their plan of action for her if they do
remove her.

That is all I know today ? but will post again as soon as
anything develops. Now the family has to wait until the case
worker calls them. They don?t know how long that will be.
And there is a long weekend coming up ? Friday is a holiday
in Denmark ? Big Praying Day. Seems fitting in a way?

Here is a little more background info about Karina and her
case.

Her name is Karina Hansen and she lives in Holstebro,
Denmark. She has been sick since she was 16 ? after an
Epstein-Barr infection.

Because of lack of understanding about her condition, she
was encouraged to exercise. Which always led to a
worsening of her condition.

On May 12th, 2010, her GP pushed her parents into
admitting Karina to the hospital for ?rehabilitation?. While she
was there, the GP tried to get her committed to a
psychiatric hospital. They were not able to do it, as Karina
is not mentally ill. She has been evaluated several times
and found mentally healthy.

During this time I put them in contact with Dr. Isager, the
Danish ME expert. He was able to get Karina out of the
hospital and gave her a diagnosis of ME. The hospitalization
made her so sick that she has since been completely
bed-bound, lives in a dark room and can?t tolerate any noise.
Her family lives in a trailer in the yard . It is so painful for her
to be touched that her mom has not been able to wash her
for 2 years. She grows weaker by the day. Dr. Isager
suggested that she have an IV put in at home in order to
keep her alive. Her new GP has been very good and tried
everything she can to make this happen.

So? there is a good ME-expert involved but the government
does not recognize him as an expert in ME. And Karna has
a good GP. But the government officials and the specialists
at the hospitals are blocking her from getting the help she
needs.

If you would like to write to public officials
about her case, here are the basic addresses:

Ministry of Health sum@sum.dk

Board of Health sst@sst.dk


I will try to find more specific ones later.

What we are asking for is:

That they listen to the advice of Dr. Isager and her GP.
(Sorry I can?t give out her name until I ok it with her.)

To have the Board of Health and Ministry of Health respect
the WHO code for ME G93.3 and treat it as a neurological
disease.

To remove the incorrect information about ME from official
websites. ( it is listed under 3 codes here and called
kronisk trFthedsyndrom ? chronic tiredness syndrome)

http://laegehaandbogen.dk/legehandbogen/generelt/kronisk-trethedssyndrom-1314.html

Here it is called somatoform or functional somatic syndrome

https://www.sundhed.dk/sundhedsfaglig/praksisinformation/almen-praksis/hovedstaden/patientforloeb/forloebsbeskrivelser-icpc/p-psykisk/somatoform-lidelse/

it is because of sites like these that the misinformation
about ME exists and thrives in Denmark

And last but not least ? to have the government recommend
the ICC criteria to diagnose ME.



Again ? thanks for all the support and help. I felt so helpless
last night when I got the call from Karina?s mom ? but today I
have hope that together we can create real awareness
about ME. Thanks for that.

Rebecca

From: Marry Molendijk <molendijk40@zonnet.nl>
#MEcfs #cfs #ME #Humanrights


Remains of Medieval in Swedish health Care

The Swedish ME-association "ME-föreningen" has earlier drawn attention to the lack of knowledge about the neuroimmune disease myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) within the Swedish health care system [1]. We have noticed that there are children with ME that have been forcible committed to psychiatric care in Sweden [2]. Now this is about to happen again. Clearly we have a long way to go, the slope is steep, too steep.

For how long may the madness continue? How far may the madness take us? Shall the social authorities forcible commit all children and adolescents with ME to psychiatric care or to foster home before they are satisfied?

A family is currently struggling with the Social Services Committee (socialnämnd), who wants to forcible place their sun with ME in foster home. The child fell sick in ME when he had glandular fever at 9 years of age. He is now 12 years old. A neuro-paediatrician initially gave the diagnosis post-viral fatigue syndrome, but later changed the diagnosis because the child did not get healthy within one year. His explanation then was that the parents caused the illness of the child. He did not want to give a further explanation to it, but one has to assume that he refers to Münchhausen by proxy or something home made without scientific foundation.

The neuro-paediatrician deem that myalgic encephalomyelitis that was initiated in connection with an infection (also termed post-viral fatigue syndrome) can not last for more than one year. This is contrary to common knowledge and science. A common estimation is that 70% of the patients with ME got it in connection to an infection. A longitudinal study shows that 11% of people that get glandular fever also get ME. After one year there are still 7% that have ME, and after two years 4%. There are lots of people chronically ill with ME in Sweden that got ME when they had glandular fever. They are ill for the rest of their lives, i.e. for decades.

The Social Services Committee seems to give the family some extra time, but still threatens to place the child in foster home, if the child does not improve. This is an outrage as no one can know how ME will develop in the future, and to expose the child and family for this kind of pressure shows a total lack of understanding of what ME is. If it would be so well that you could control ME, then there would be tens of thousands of Swedes who would be enormoulsy pleased. Maybe it is time for us to contact the Social Services Committee and ask what secret they have that could give us parts of our lives back.

Having a child loosing its childhood, parents to children with ME has a great deal of grief to handle. Instead of supporting these parents, society accuse them of causing the disease of their children. Instead of supporting the child and give it a secure and safe ambience, one puts the child under stress with the threat it might be separated from its parents, in a situation it is very vulnerable as it has a severe and disabling disease. In addition to this the disease as such makes it hard to tolerate stress, and it is possible that the permanent exacerbations occur due to the stress and trauma that the child is subjected to.

It is of uttermost importance that people who treat and care for patients with ME has knowledge about the disease. It happens now and then that patients with ME get permanent exacerbations of pushing themselves to much or from too much of stress. The experience of ME-föreningen is that it is far too common that medical physicians and nurses do not have enough knowledge about ME and tries to push these patients to activity. One can guess what will happen if the child falls into the wrong hands.

The problem of forcible commitments of patients with ME in Sweden, is very similar to that of the United Kingdom, which is well represented in the film "Voices from the Shadows" [3]. It can e.g. be seen online [4].

There is an ME clinic at the Hospital in Danderyd in the region of Stockholm. The clinic was opened as a experimental project a year ago. The waiting list is already three years, and they no longer admit patients to the list. The clinic is only for adults (at least 18 years of age). Children and adolescents with ME have no where to be referred. A politician in the Regional Government of Stockholm (Stockholms läns landsting) with responsibility for these questions (Stig Nyman, Christian Democrat) belived that the Astrid Lindgren's Children's Hospital, which belongs to the prestigious Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, receives children and adolescents with ME, but the ME-föreningen can not confirm this. The information we have received from patients is that there is a total lack of knowledge about ME at the Astrid Lindgren's Children's Hospital. The neuro-paediatric clinic has for example no knowledge, although ME is classified as a neurologic condition by WHO since 1969. It is remarcable that one of the most important university hospital of the country lacks knowledge about ME.

For a long time patients with ME have requested improvements, but nothing happens. Wishes that probably have existed for decades are presented below, but nothing has yet happened. Will something ever happen or will lethargy, inability to act, or total disinterest prevail.

• Each Region (landsting) has at least one medical physician with knowledge and experience of ME, of course receiving both children and adults.
• Home visits are made to severely affected patients.
• University education for medical physicians and nurses take up ME.
• The government, universities and regional governments ensure that research into ME have resources comparable to other diseases wit the same frequency and disability.
• A tissue bank including post mortem tissues is established for biomedical research.

School health services, child- and adolescent psychiatry as well as primary care and psychiatry must take responsibility to become much better at recognizing ME. Too often very unfortunate mistakes are made because they do not know enough about ME and hastily draw the wrong conclusions .

My thoughts go to all who have been maltreated by the health care or the social services,

Kasper Ezelius, 2012-04-08, ME-föreningen, Sweden, http://me-foreningen.se/


References:

1. http://me-foreningen.se/foreningen-historik.htm

2. http://me-foreningen.se/dok/100512-internationella-me-dagen.htm

3. The movie "Voices from the Shadows" http://voicesfromtheshadowsfilm.co.uk/

4. Look at the movie "Voices from the Shadows" online http://mubi.com/films/voices-from-the-shadows

Reader friendly versions of the following text:

English: http://me-foreningen.se/dok/120408-medieval-swedish-healthcare.htm

Swedish: http://me-foreningen.se/dok/120408-medeltid-svensk-sjukvard.htm

----

Remains of medieval in Swedish health care
--
+---------------------------------------------------
! ME-föreningen: http://me-foreningen.se
! ME-information: http://me-cfs.se
+---------------------------------------------------
#MEcfs #

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

A Prayer for Sue Marsh, British Disability Campaigner (@suey2y on Twitter)

May the One who was a source of blessing for our ancestors, bring blessings of healing upon Sue Marsh, a healing of body and a healing of spirit. May those in whose care she is entrusted, be gifted with wisdom and skill, and those who surround her, be gifted with love and trust, openness and support in her care. And may she be healed along with all those who are in need. Blessed are You, Source of healing. Amen.

Danish Board of Health threatens to commit seriously ill ME-patient to a psychiatric hospital

Danish Board of Health threatens to commit seriously ill ME-patient to a psychiatric hospital.

The Danish Board of Health says that the diagnosis of ME is the same as insanity and wants to
forcibly remove a 23-year old woman, Karina, from her family home.

This could happen as soon as May 2nd.

Karina is totally bed-bound, is extremely light and sound sensitive and is too weak to talk. 

She is so extremely ill that there is a real chance that a move could be fatal.

Karina's parents have been trying to get permission to set up an IV at home to help keep Karina alive, but instead the health department decided that Karina is mentally ill and should be removed.

The family has been repeatedly told by Danish doctors that the diagnosis of ME is not recognized.

"They do not understand how sick an ME-patient can be with this disease and their ignorance can now have fatal consequences for Karina" says Rebecca Hansen, Chairman of the ME Association in Denmark.

Please help us by spreading this story on-line and to the media.

We would like to get journalists interested in writing about it.

Rebecca Hansen can be contacted at:

icerebel62@hotmail.com

ME IS REGISTERED AS NEUROLIGICAL BY WHO WORLD WIDE HEALTH AUTHORITY AND IS NOT LISTED AS MENTAL HEALTH

PLEASE SEE http://www.sophiaandme.org.uk/ FOR DETAILS OF ENGLISH ME PATIENT SECTIONED FOR HAVING ME WHICH LED TO HER DEATH
~~~~