The gaze that accompanies our standards of beauty gets turned right back around and then refracted in Aaron Schimberg’s astonishing Chained for Life, which premiered Sunday at Brooklyn’s BAMcinemaFest. The film takes place on the set of an exploitation movie whose cast is largely disabled or disfigured and portrayed…
Moviegoers report that a Showcase Cinemas in Warwick, Rhode Island refused to turn on the captions for a screening of Beauty and the Beast so that deaf and hard of hearing patrons could follow the film.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has recently come under criticism for delivering enormous bills to veterans for alleged debt on overpayment. Many veterans are now struggling to understand why they owe what they owe.
Early Tuesday morning, a man attacked residents of the Tsukui Yamayuri-En disability facility in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, killing at least 19 and wounding approximately 25.
A nineteen-year-old brain tumor patient was returning home on June 30, after her last treatment at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, when a bloody encounter at Memphis International Airport turned celebration into disaster. After setting off the metal detector, the disabled young woman was confused by the demands…
I was born missing my left hand, and as a teen, I attended a camp for children with limb differences, which we lovingly called Amp Camp. In middle-of-nowhere, Ohio, with hundreds of other 10- to 17-year-old amputees, we did all the things able-bodied kids do at camp: we sang by the fire, we challenged each other on…
On October 28, 2015, 13-year-old Jessica Pelligrini began choking on an apple during lunch. The emergency could have turned fatal had fellow classmate Brandon Williams, also 13, not rushed to her side and successfully performed the Heimlich Maneuver. Marveling at Brandons’s heroism, his father Anthony Williams asked…
On September 22, workers cut down a well-loved 200-year-old oak tree at Ivy Green, writer Helen Keller’s childhood home in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Keller, who lost both sight and hearing at 19 months, was once trapped in the tree during a storm until Annie Sullivan, her teacher and companion, carried her to safety. The…
In the agonizing months leading up to this year's election, there was a lot of talk about under what circumstances, exactly, a woman should be able to have an abortion. Surveys of American political opinion consistently paint a picture of a population that is much more comfortable with the idea of abortion if women…
More college students than ever are asking for special academic accommodations for their mental health issues. But experts are divided on the best way to help them.
If there's one thing that makes some people squirm more than the idea of a functional, happy sex worker it's the frank discussion of disabled sexuality. And award-winning Australian director Catherine Scott has set out to demystify both in her new documentary, Scarlet Road: A Sex Worker's Journey.
Lately, the Internet has been buzzing about the American Sign Language for "abortion," which is apparently either a cradled baby being thrown away or a uterine scraping, depending on your source. But that's not the end of the ASL fun times.
My first reaction to Jessica Floeh's line of insulin pump accessories — cleverly named Hanky Pancreas — was clear and uncomplicated: those are so pretty and I want them.
Last night, Olympian, model, actress, and activist Aimee Mullins schooled Stephen Colbert on disability and prosthetics last night. Of course, there was also a proposed Boob Olympics.
For the first time, a visually-impaired child will portray Helen Keller in a Broadway production of The Miracle Worker. (Well, if Abigail Breslin is sick.)
A former teacher left writer Karen Houppert $75,000, and her meditation on the reasons why is a moving love letter to feminism, the spirit of collective action, and the impact a beloved mentor can have.
Scientists have found that obesity among women plays a large factor in their quality of life as they get older. Maybe it is better to just die young, happy and full of chocolate? [Science Daily]
If you need a shot of pure romance, this week's "Modern Love" has got it. Okay, pure romance and a bowel movement.
