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There were Japanese protesters in the mfa boston though.... Even thisisnotjapan was outraged.
I do recognize there were also counterprotestors who were Japanese. I realize it isn’t always black and white, but I do not understand the outrage, and neither did the countrerprotesters. They were very confused by why the young asian-american community was so bothered by people wanting to honor and share in their culture. ~Mod Pluto
"Male homelessness is 75% of the male population, whereas it’s only 25% of the female population." ... 75% of the male population is not homeless. 25% of the female population is not homeless. We would have a horrible epidemic where 49ish percent of the US was homeless if that were the case. It makes it hard to trust this blog as objective (and I want to, as a non-SJW who believes in equality) if you reblog without critique someone who can't read a chart.
EDIT: Okay, anon. I see what your complaint is about. The OP misread and misrepresented the chart in how the described it. That does not negate that the chart says the actual figures, and as that chart was in the body of a large post, I can see why whoever on the blog reblogged the post would not notice that the text accompanying it was innacurate. MY BAD! Nonetheless, the chart says that 75% of the homeless population is male, not that 75% of the male population is homeless. :) And that is a fact to stand by. I think in this case more critical reading should happen on everyone’s part and I thank you for bringing this to our attention.~Mod Pluto
Perhaps the biggest crime of all is speaking for oppressed groups as an outsider and behaving as though you understand their lived experience and can speak for them.
~Mod Pluto
I had the intense pleasure of watching this dynamic duo in person today during my Culture of Disability class. This is the most recent clip of them performing I could find, so keep in mind this routine is still evolving and changing as they grow as dance partners and Rik learns more about dance. He was an award winning college gymnast at SUNY Cortland and Tina is a trained ballerina whose pedigree shows in this performance.It challenged my expectations of what the human body and spirit are capable of, and I hope it does the same for you. Rik has such a kind heart and a strong drive to inspire and entertain. Enjoy! ~Mod Pluto
Defining Disability
My Culture of Disability class had a guest speaker today from the Cornell University ILR School Employment and Disability Institute (phew, what a mouthful!). Our speaker, Erin, brought up a very lovely definition of disability that I would like to share with you all: disability is not a deficit within a person, it is created by an environment lacking in accessibility and based in ableist ideals. Essentially, disability is caused by an unaccommodating society rather than any developmental, physical, or psychological difference in a person or group of persons.
Erin referenced a spectacular TED talk by Stella Young when discussing the popularized expression, "The only disability is a bad attitude". This is the fantasy of an ableist society. As Stella points out:
"I really think that this lie that we've been sold about disability is the greatest injustice. It makes life hard for us. And that quote, "The only disability in life is a bad attitude," the reason that that's bullshit is because it's just not true, because of the social model of disability. No amount of smiling at a flight of stairs has ever made it turn into a ramp. Never. (Laughter) (Applause) Smiling at a television screen isn't going to make closed captions appear for people who are deaf. No amount of standing in the middle of a bookshop and radiating a positive attitude is going to turn all those books into braille. It's just not going to happen."
I know ableist can be viewed as a dirty word on tumblr, but when used in its proper context (hint, it's this one) it has power and value. Western society in particular believes firmly in the idea that humans must be autonomous to thrive, despite all sociological and scientific investigation of human behavior telling us that we are social beings. To treat someone as lesser due to a difference in their mental health, intellectual capacity or mobility and other physical functioning is unfair. We are all the same species with the same essential drives, just in different meat sacks (for lack of a more nuanced description). I highly suggest watching the TED talk I watched; Stella is an absolute riot and very eloquent.If any of you are interested in further (more scholarly) readings on this topic, please let me know and I would be more than happy to share some!
~Mod Pluto
Today I experienced the difference between a "medical minded" mental health professional and a "socially minded" mental health professional. I was at a graduate school fair and when interacting with the recruiter from the "Mental Health" program at a certain university in Boston and his emphasis was so much on how the graduate school was part of the medical school as though that alone made it inherently more valuable. He spoke about a level of flexibility in one's career, but when I spoke to the many representatives from NY graduate schools of social work, their focus was on how non-restrictive a general Masters of Social Work is and how your career is not limited to one specific field due to the broad training. You could go from a trauma specialist in your mid-twenties to later working with aging populations to working with children and families as you mature and change interests. And the emphasis was on the opportunity to work directly with broad populations of your choosing. Food for thought I suppose about the approach to education in the helping professions.
~Mod Pluto
This semester I'm in a class studying the culture of disability, and I find myself astounded by the lack of perspective of my fellow students. I question if it's just because I'm one of two or three other students in a class of twenty-five who isn't a student in a health science or human performance discipline that they lack outside knowledge. In nearly all class discussions I feel like the odd student out based upon my study of sociology and mental health services, reminding the others consistently of how much progress we still need to make. A student, presenting on the current state of mental heath and disability services said with a straight face how we have nearly eliminated stigma in that regard and I was fuming. If that is true, why do the disabled ( as well as LGBT youth and veterans) disproportionately make up the U.S's homeless? I live in a nation so proud of the modern discourse that we forget how far there is to go. Autonomy is lauded, despite the social nature of human beings. And unless this generation recognizes that there are still problems, they'll never be fixed.
~Mod Pluto
A reminder to you all: in times of extreme sturm und drang you are not a bad person if you need to step away from your computer, phone, or television for awhile. While it is important to keep informed about what struggles people across the world are going through at any given time, it is equally important to preserve your own mental health. Create a safe space for yourself for awhile, and then, if and when you are ready, return to your social media with as serene a mind as you can muster. ~Mod Pluto
