@boxspelunker: What is even more offensive than the work of art itself is the fact that it was chosen, apparently as a representative out of a larger group of art, to be blown up to enormous proportions and pasted to the exterior of a building. The poster reads: Poznan, capitol of world art. As if that poster were the most fitting example of Poznan's collection of "world art."
Wow, I'm usually a lurker, but I have to comment on this. I think the responses to this article, in general, show how far the disability rights movement has to go to achieve parity, even with other minority groups.
To say it is an issue of the other actors comfort or ease seems short-sighted when people like Sharon Jensen are fighting for long-term goals of advancement. People with disabilities need the rest of the world to understand that, yes, their full participation may require a little extra effort for all of us, but it is the humane course of action, and ideally, it will make all of our lives richer to include these different experiences.
To say the director should be able to cast whomever he wants. . .yes, he should, but we should also take a good hard look at the ableist casting practices that keep characters AND actors with disabilities off of our screens.
These arguments for why the play should not feature a disabled actor are straw men that people with disabilities have been trying to knock down for a long time, and I am shocked that so many of the well-read, thoughtful commenters on Jezebel are uninitiated about the terms and parameters of this struggle. #helenkellerabigailbreslin
@nodoubt9203 [אִיזָבֶל]: Ugh, I feel like such a tool for loving 30% of that list.
@SisterMaryMartha: I was not making a blind guess. I've done extensive reading on this and I just didn't have the numbers at my finger tips and I didn't want to make anything up.
@pestified: Yes, pressure from the medical community, especially insurance companies is also an issue. Often genetic counselors exert a subtle pressure because they might have little experience with people with disabilities and the standard choice is to abort.
Once again, I have no idea what I would do in that situation, and I just hope I never have to make such a decision.
@SisterMaryMartha: This NYTimes article quotes it at 90%: [www.nytimes.com]
@crampyscamp: I'm pretty sure that a huge percentage of fetuses with Down Syndrome are aborted. I have intimate experience with disability; I know how hard it is to raise a disabled child. I'm not judging who chooses to do what, but I think we need to at least acknowledge what these tests are for: they are largely so that parents can abort disabled fetuses.
@SarahMC: Seriously, I've seen Stephanopolous so many times I started to think he was stalking ME.
@Piranha426: My doggie and I thank you for the correction, Piranha!
@keldo:
Wasn't one of the products being shilled by Dove a cellulite firming cream? Sure, let's accept ourselves after we've plucked and sucked as much as possible. Real women, indeed.
Wasn't one of the products being shilled by Dove a cellulite firming cream? Sure, let's accept ourselves after we've plucked and sucked as much as possible. Real women, indeed.
The Times article calls SATC "near-anthrpological"--Whaaaa??!!
The worst part is she took him back! Once HE decided she was the one!
The claim that they are "opting out" of capitalism is exactly what kills me. They depend on the effluvia of a market economy (and, frankly, it is better than totally wasting it), and yet they abhor the very system that sustains them.
@TiffisBetter: Somehow the Apocalypse Pony song seems so RIGHT in Russian.
I smell four more years of a Republican administration: if the general is Hillary versus McCain, the Dems are likely toast. I come from a conservative Western state and currently live in a liberal Eastern one. As far as I'm concerned, Hillary supporters are in complete denial about the bone-deep hatred that many, many moderate to right-wing Republicans harbor for Hillary. Unlike Hillary, my conservative parents can actually imagine voting for Obama, however.
I don't understand the problem with VPL. Is it a surprise to anyone that I wear underwear?
