DOCSLIB.ORG

The Commodification of Disability on Facebook Author's Note

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Commodification of Disability on Facebook Author's Note MEDIA REVIEW: Liking for Like’s Sake – The Commodification of Disability on Facebook Author’s Note Volume 20, Number 3, 2014 This review uses the terms “disabled people” and “disabled per‑ son” rather than people first terminology such as “people with disabilities” or “person with a disability.” This reflects the posi‑ Author tion that disability is a valued (but not sole) part of a person’s identity and that “disabled” comes from a place of pride rather than shame. I also use the term “impairment” to refer to the Kirsty Liddiard physiological condition of the body (I recognize this term is also both contested and contestable), and the term “disability” to refer 1 School of Disability Studies, to the social,cultural and material factors that can mediate the Ryerson University, experience of impairment. Toronto, ON This review is a modest attempt to critically explore domi- 2 University of Sheffield, School of Education, nant representations of disability on social media, or more Sheffield, UK specifically, Facebook. These are very specific images – or internet “memes” – of disability which have been labeled “inspiration porn” and “cripspiration” by disabled people. The terms “inspiration porn” and “cripspiration” refer to typically ableist images of disability which represent either a person with disability as “inspiring” (usually doing an every- day activity, rather than anything actually heroic or inspir- ing) or which rely upon disability in order to inspire or other- wise shape the behaviours and/or attitudes of the audience or viewer. Interestingly, disability scholars and activists have given little attention to disability imagery on social media, despite the fact that these are wide scale technologies which have become “thoroughly embedded and routinized in the societies where they are most widely used” (Livingstone & Lievrouw, 2006, p. 1). This is further problematic because of Correspondence the significant presence and visibility of people with dis- abilities online, where new forms of citizenship are being [email protected] claimed due to the Internet (or “online spaces”) providing more accessible avenues for participation, communication, education, entertainment, and employment than in the “real life world” where significant barriers to these areas of social Keywords life forcefully prevail (Hollier, 2012; Seymour, 2001). Just to clarify, Internet memes are “small units of culture, anal- disability, ogous to genes, which flow from person to person by copying social media, or imitation” (Shifman & Thelwall, 2009, p. 2567); therefore, Facebook, memes flourish through being shared via social media, as they memes of disability, are passed from person to person. On Facebook, this takes inspiration porn, place through a user “Liking” and “Sharing” the meme. The cripspiration, meme then enters the user’s Newsfeed – the Facebook user’s ableist “main page” (through which they learn the activities, events, comments, and images of their Facebook Friends) – and is potentially further “Liked” and “Shared” by Facebook Friends, and so on. Regardless of specific content, there are striking similarities in the ways in which many disability memes main- © Ontario Association on Developmental Disabilities Liking for Like’s Sake 95 tain ableist notions of our lives: that we’re seldom consequences of this for people with the label more than objects of pity, in need of sympathy; of intellectual impairment, and people with dis- that if we just try hard enough we can make our ability more broadly. I conclude by looking at lives “better”; that we need to be told that we are the ways in which disabled people are speaking beautiful (usually a disabled woman or girl fea- back to – or cripping – such ableist representa- tures in these images) or worthy; or that we are tions of their identities, lives and bodies. brave, courageous and plucky in our “overcom- ing” of disability. These images are the classic ableist narratives of disability reproduced and Gendering and Psychologizing (re)told in social media form. the Dis/Abled Subject While some disability memes are created in, at One of the most widely circulated, or “viral,” best, good faith, many others are created and distributed merely for profit – a “Facebook memes on Facebook and Twitter is a photo- Scam” (Pearce, 2012). These memes are part of graph of Paralympian and Olympian Oscar an underground Facebook “Like” trade culture, Pistorious in a running race with a disabled which is unique to a social media context, and young girl. Fittingly, both have J-shaped car- serves to (re)produce the disabled identity as bon-fibre prosthetics (more popularly known as something for sale; an ableist commodity for Cheetah Flex-Foot prosthetic limbs). The tagline consumption. It is seldom known that when reads “The only Disability is A Bad Attitude” – Facebook users click “Like” on certain images, a quote from Scott Hamilton, a former figure they are simultaneously joining the fan page skater and testicular cancer survivor. The young which hosted the original meme. This is then girl, whose white skin, blonde hair and excep- “Shared” with all of their Facebook Friends tional beauty offer a palatable embodiment of via their Newsfeed. Some creators of fan pages female disability and impairment, is Ellie May enlist the use of images or memes which evoke Challis; a 5 year old who became a four-limb sympathy, fear, anger or laughter, in order to amputee following infant meningitis. Challis accumulate “Likes.” It is important to state that is the youngest person to ever have been fitted Facebook users can also “Comment” under- with Cheetah Flex-Foot prosthetic limbs, which neath memes, which serves no other function- were funded by her local community after she al purpose than to generate interest in order experienced severe difficulty negotiating stan- to gain more “Likes.” Fan pages are then sold dard prosthetics (Bennett-Smith, 2012). She also on to companies and businesses as a means of represents the normative embodiment of happy reaching potential new customers; the higher childhood and girlhood: her gender presenta- the amount of “Likes,” the greater the value tion is appropriately feminine in a bright short of the fan page. Therefore, it is in the interest yellow dress (which reveals her prosthetics) of fan page creators to accumulate as many “Likes” as possible. There is real ambiguity sur- with matching colored hair ties securing her rounding how much revenue the sale of a fan ash blonde hair in cute pigtails; she appears page can generate; estimates range from tens, smiley, gregarious and confident as the centre to thousands, of dollars. Some memes are futile, of attention in the photograph, but is coy and employing taglines such as, “‘Like’ if you hate non-threatening with it. While Challis doesn’t cancer, ignore if you don’t” and “‘Like’ if you think have a label of intellectual impairment, she these puppies are cute.” However, others are far does embody and represent the notion of “eter- more exploitative and fraudulent, being linked nal innocence” which is routinely ascribed to to fake charitable organizations and used as a people with the label of intellectual impair- way to extort money in the form of donations. ment. Markedly, she also appears the “correct” weight for her age and size – essential in the In this review, then, I look at some of the most context of Western moral panics around child- common disability memes currently being hood obesity (Throsby & Roberts, 2010) – and shared on Facebook. I explore the ways in which appears appropriately active, agile, and sporty. these memes work to (re)produce sanctioned Importantly, for the audience, Challis counters (heteronormative) gendered disabled identities the very ableist constructions of disabled child- and subjectivities which are inherently saleable hood and girlhood: a pathologized childhood (or commodified) and which enable fan pages to of segregation, institutionalization, marginal- be sold for profit. Importantly, I reflect upon the ization, medicalization, hospitalization, bully- volume 20 number 3 LIDDIARD 96 ing, sadness, isolation, and the denial of play sonhood as a means to secure our citizenship. – an objectifying construction of childhood The supercrip only celebrates disability and which renders disabled children “environ- impairment which can be normalized through mentally vulnerable travelers on a biologically exceptionalism. determined road to adult status” (Priestly, 1998, p. 208). Challis, then, is the exception. The supercrip is a discursive construction of dis- ability to which most disabled people are implic- The same can be said for Pistorious who was, itly and explicitly measured, classified, marked, prior to his imprisonment for culpable homi- and “Othered.” Interestingly, however, people cide in October 2014, readily hailed as both with the label of intellectual impairment are an ableist symbol of overcoming and beacon seldom, if ever, positioned as supercrips within of exceptional hyper-masculine embodiment. in our popular culture and media – affirming Further, his use of Cheetah Flex-Foot prosthet- their Otherness and infantilized personhood. If ic limbs offers an ableist cultural imaginary the we think of popular supercrips – Christopher possibility that we “could reconstitute our bod- Reeve; President Roosevelt; Helen Keller; and ies, both as mechanical and organic” (Meekosha Stephen Hawking – we can see that the super- & Shuttleworth, 2009, p. 60); thus Pistorious is crip image is, for the most part, only bestowed hybridized, a mix of flesh and machine (see upon white, privileged, men with physical Haraway, 1991). Pistorious famously made his- impairments. While I am not advocating for tory by becoming the only sportsperson to ever people with the label of intellectual impairment compete in both the Paralympics and Olympics; to be revered as supercrips in such oppressive a notion overcoming officially sanctioned, then, ways, the lack of representation in the supercrip by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and image does offer important insights into dis- International Association of Athletics and, not ability hierarchies, as well as insights into who surprisingly, by global media.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Performing the Fractured Puppet Self
    Performing the Fractured Puppet Self Employing auto-ethnopuppetry to portray and challenge cultural and personal constructions of the disabled body by Emma C. Fisher Supervisor: Doctor Michael Finneran A thesis submitted for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Drama and Theatre Studies Mary Immaculate College (Coláiste Mhuire Gan Smál) University of Limerick Ph.D. ABSTRACT This research project examines personal and cultural constructs of the disabled body, with the creation of the puppet play Pupa as its practical culmination. The testimonials of six participants (including my own), all from artists with a disability or deaf artists, are the inspiration for Pupa. The qualitative research methodology used within this research combines ethnographic methods, auto-ethnography, practice-based research and narrative enquiry. I have adapted auto-ethnography by combining it with puppetry to coin new methodologies; ‘ethnopuppetry’ and ‘auto-ethnopuppetry’. Inspired by fairytales, Pupa creates a fantastical world where the narratives of the participants find expression through a range of puppet characters. These testimonies examine what it is to identify with a disabled identity, and to ‘come out’ as disabled. It looks at how we perceive ourselves as disabled, and how we feel others perceive us. Creating a piece of theatre based around disabled identity led me to investigate the history of disabled performers, and historical depictions of disabled characters within theatre, fairytales and freak-shows, in order to see how they influence societal beliefs around disability today. Within the practice element of this research, I experimented with unconventionally constructed puppets, as well as puppeteering my own disabled limb with an exo-skeleton, in order to question how I view disability in my own body.
    [Show full text]
  • Guidelines: How to Write About People with Disabilities
    Guidelines: How to Write about People with Disabilities 9th Edition (On the Cover) Deb Young with her granddaughters. Deb is a triple amputee who uses a power (motorized) wheelchair. Online You can view this information online at our website. You can also download a quick tips poster version or download the full pdf of the Guidelines at http://rtcil.org/sites/rtcil.drupal.ku.edu/files/ files/9thguidelines.jpg Guidelines: How to Write about People with Disabilities You can contribute to a positive image of people with disabilities by following these guidelines. Your rejection of stereotypical, outdated language and use of respectful terms will help to promote a more objective and honest image. Say this Instead of How should I describe you or your disability? What are you? What happened to you? Disability Differently abled, challenged People with disabilities, disabled Handicapped Survivor Victim, suffers from Uses a wheelchair, wheelchair user Confined to a wheelchair Service dog or service animal Seeing eye dog Accessible parking or restroom Handicapped parking, disabled stall Person with Down syndrome Mongoloid Intellectual disability Mentally retarded, mental retardation Autistic, on the autism spectrum, atypical Abnormal Deb Young with her granddaughters. Deb is a triple amputee who uses a power Person with a brain injury Brain damaged motorized) wheelchair. Person of short stature, little person Midget, dwarf For More Information Person with a learning disability Slow learner, retard Download our brochure, Guidelines: How Person with
    [Show full text]
  • Playing Disability
    University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020- 2020 Playing Disability Daniel Romano University of Central Florida Part of the Acting Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd2020 University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020- by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Romano, Daniel, "Playing Disability" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-. 124. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd2020/124 PLAYING DISABILITY by DANIEL ROMANO BFA New York University, 2016 AA Delaware County Community College, 2013 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts of Theatre in the Department of Theatre in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2020 Major Professor: Cynthia White ©2020 Daniel Romano ii ABSTRACT Disability in performance has a long history, starting with fictional characters such as Shakespeare’s Gloucester/Richard, progressing through the freak shows of the early twentieth century, and finally with artists such as Neil Marcus, Mat Fraser and Deaf West Theatre in the past twenty years. Looking to the work of disabled artists, activists, and theorists such as Petra Kuppers and Carrie Sandahl, I will examine the history of both disability in performance and the performance of disability. I will discuss my performance of Garret, a man with muscular dystrophy, in my original play, The Sick Parents Club.
    [Show full text]
  • THIS IS WHAT DISABILITY LOOKS LIKE DEPICTIONS of PEOPLE with DISABILITIES in MASS MEDIA and BLOGS of PEOPLE with IMPAIRMENTS (Master's Thesis)
    MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY THIS IS WHAT DISABILITY LOOKS LIKE DEPICTIONS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN MASS MEDIA AND BLOGS OF PEOPLE WITH IMPAIRMENTS (Master's Thesis) STUDENT: Bc. et Bc. Beáta Révayová SUPERVISOR: Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky, Ph.D. Spring 2013 I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due acknowledgment has been made in the text. Date: Signature: 2 First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky, Ph.D., for all the kind words of advice and encouragement. Second but also important, my thanks goes to the disability bloggers who, unwittingly, made this study possible, for giving me a precious new perspective. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 6 The goals and structure of the thesis ........................................................................... 8 WHAT IS DISABILITY/ WHAT IS DISABLING/WHO IS DISABLED ...................................... 10 Delineating disability – problems and definitions ...................................................... 10 Medical (individual) model of disability ................................................................. 13 (British) Social Model of Disability .......................................................................... 14 Critiques
    [Show full text]
  • ISME Commission on Special Education and Music Therapy 2016
    Proceedings of the 21st International Seminar of the ISME Commission on Special Music Education and Music Therapy Drake Music Scotland and University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, Scotland 20-23, July 2016 Editor Melita Belgrave All abstracts presented at the 2016 ISME World Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, were peer refereed before inclusion in the Conference program. In addition, completed papers were fully (blind) refereed by a panel of international authorities before inclusion in the Seminar Proceedings. Editorial Board Melita Belgrave, Editor Jessie Chen Michelle Hairston Markku Kaikkonen Bo Nilsson Giorgos Tsiris National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Author: ISME Commission on Special Music Education and Music Therapy International Seminar (21st: 2016: Edinburgh, Scotland) Title: Proceedings of the 21st International Seminar of the Commission on Special Music Education and Music Therapy, Edinburgh, Scotland [electronic resource] ISBN: 978-0-9942055-7-5 (eBook) Notes: Includes bibliographical references. Subjects: Music--Congresses. Music in education--Congresses. ISME Commission on Special Music Education and Music Therapy Dewey Number: 780.7 ©International Society for Music Education 2016 www.isme.org 2 The Conference Organizing Committee and ISME are grateful to the following people who provided expert, independent advice and who acted as referees for selecting papers and workshops for presentation at the 2016 Pre-conference seminars of the ISME World Conference. Our sincere appreciation is expressed to the following
    [Show full text]
  • An Exploration of Disability and Sexuality Margaret
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Concordia University Research Repository “Nobody Is Asking What I Can Do!”: An Exploration of Disability and Sexuality Margaret Campbell A Thesis In the Department Of Sociology and Anthropology Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Social and Cultural Analysis) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada July 2019 © Margaret Campbell, 2019 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Margaret Campbell Entitled: “Nobody Is Asking What I Can Do!”: An Exploration of Disability and Sexuality and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy (Social and Cultural Analysis) complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final examining committee: Chair Dr. Prosper Dovonan External Examiner Dr. Jacqueline Low External to Program Dr. Kim Sawchuk Examiner Dr. Marc Lafrance Examiner Dr. David Howes Thesis Supervisor Dr. Anthony Synnott Approved by Dr. Amy Swiffen, Graduate Program Director August, 27th, 2018 Dr. Andre Roy, Dean of Arts and Science ABSTRACT “Nobody Is Asking What I Can Do!”: An Exploration of Disability and Sexuality Margaret Campbell, PhD Concordia University, 2019 This doctoral research explores the various ways in which people with physical disabilities access opportunities for sexual expression and exploration. Through conducting qualitative interviews with twenty-four people with physical disabilities I identify barriers to sexual expression that participants faced and examine how participants negotiated, maintained, and created opportunities for sexual expression in spite of these barriers.
    [Show full text]
  • New Approaches to Investigate Disability in HCI
    New Approaches to Investigate Disability in HCI Gisela Reyes-Cruz Abstract University of Nottingham Recent research on accessibility and assistive Nottingham, UK technology within Human Computer Interaction (HCI) [email protected] has been applying concepts and perspectives brought from Critical Disability Studies, helping in turn, to Joel Fischer transform how research and design involving people University of Nottingham with disabilities is conducted. Such research has Nottingham, UK inspired and informed our recent work on reframing [email protected] disability as competency [14], from an ethnographic Stuart Reeves study investigating technology use by people with University of Nottingham visual impairments, that we revisit in this paper. Nottingham, UK However, herein we focus our attention on [email protected] demonstrations conducted and propose them as a potential methodological approach that could contribute to reimagining current understandings of (dis)ability and help to uncover the routine and mundane accommodation work that is involved in getting by in everyday life. Author Keywords Disability; Visual Impairments; Ethnomethodology; Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for Demonstrations personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights CSS Concepts for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other •Human-centered computing ~Accessibility uses, contact the owner/author(s). ~Accessibility theory, concepts and paradigms Submitted to CHI 2020 workshop “Nothing About Us Without Us: Investigating the Role of Critical Disability Studies in HCI”.
    [Show full text]
  • Disability Language Guide
    Disability Language Guide Photo Credit: Linda A. Cicero / Stanford News Service Image Description: Three students (a man carrying a flag, a man using a wheelchair, and a woman speaking with hand gestures) have a conversation while walking on a Stanford road. Language is dynamic and nuanced, changing at a rapid pace at along with social norms, perceptions, and opportunities for inclusion. The following, written by Labib Rahman and reviewed and approved by the Stanford Disability Initiative, is a starter guide (non-exhaustive, non-definitive) for considering disability equity (and practicing deference to individual experiences) in the words we use as an institutional community. Published July 2019. Written by Labib Rahman and Reviewed by the Stanford Disability Initiative Board Words matter The words we use to describe individuals with disabilities matters. According to the World Health Organization, the disability community is the largest minority group in the world: around 10% of the world's population, or 650 million people, live with a disability making the disability community the largest minority group in the world. Although there is not a monolithic language style preference shared across all the people who have a disability, it remains important to use respectful and inclusive language when communicating with or talking about people with disabilities. 1. Be mindful of the diversity in the disability community Disability is diverse both in terms of conditions and the people who have them. With all the differences in cultures, languages, genders, beliefs, and environments, remember that it is possible for two people with the same diagnosis or circumstance to feel completely differently about their disability.
    [Show full text]
  • Copy of Ableism
    What is ableism? Ableism is the overt and covert discrimination and social prejudice against humans with physical, intellectual, communicative or psychiatric disabilities, people with neurological differences and neurodivergent populations. Ableists believe harmful stereotypes, misconceptions, and generalizations about people with disabilities. Ableism is entrenched in the presumption that neurodivergent and/or disabled people are "broken" and need to be "fixed." Ableism presumes that the non-disabled and/or neuromajority are superior or elite forms of human beings, and because of that neurodivergent populations and others with disabilities should aspire to be like them, and receive therapy to imitate them. What does ableism look like? Curing neurodivergence/eugenics Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) Therapy goals for "normalization" or "cure" of neurodivergence Assuming that all disabled people want to be cured "Light it up Blue" campaign, "Autism Awareness" Failure to consider, and provide for equitable access and inclusion in all settings Demeaning disabled people with labels (e.g. "spaz," "retard," "psycho." or making insults such as "Take your meds.") Functioning labels: "high functioning/low functioning" People first - "person with Autism" vs identity first "Autistic" (ask the neurodivergent person their preference) Failure to Presume Competence Requiring prerequisites or gate-keeping access to AAC Failure to respect self-determination and body-autonomy Feeling entitled to knowing how people are disabled, or how they became disabled, or how they feel about being disabled Stereotypes: "The only disability is a bad attitude." "Just try and you can do it." "Ignore it, it's not that bad." Assuming all disabilities are visible Infantilizing disabled people Promoting "inspirational porn" Ridiculing or mocking disabled people, those with communication differences, or neurodivergent differences Why is ableism bad? It devalues, dehumanizes, and disrespects human beings.
    [Show full text]
  • Supporting the Athlete in Society Issue 2: Disability in Sport
    Volume 6: Supporting the Athlete in Society Issue 2: Disability in Sport Published June 2018 Volume 6, Issue 2 What is a Disability? The Americans with Disabilities Act (2009) defines a person with a disability as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity. T his includes people who have a record of a physical or mental disorder that results in functional limitations within a number of domains: physical, mental, behavioral, academic, social­emotional and interpersonal, highlighting that disabilities can be visible as well as invisible. Social versus Medical Paradigms ● Terminology: I mpairment i s the loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure or function and d isability i s a restriction of ability to perform an activity (Crow, 1996). ● The medical model of disability suggests a person's impairments are the root cause of any experienced disadvantages; goal is to diagnose and use medical strategies to fix, heal, or cure impairments (Coakley, 2017; Crow, 1996). ● The social model shifts the focus from impairment to disability, using this term to refer to disabling social, environmental, and attitudinal barriers rather than a lack of ability; goal is social and cultural transformation to remove barriers (Coakley, 2017; Crow, 1996). This model is widely accepted across multiple professional disciplines. What are some different facets of disability? Acquired versus Congenital Disability Acquired: D isability was not present at birth, emerged across the lifespan; 85% of athletes with physical or sensory disabilities have an acquired disability (Martin, 1999). Congenital: D isability was present at birth; found to have higher disability self­concept and satisfaction with life than those with acquired onset (Bogart, 2014).
    [Show full text]
  • A Toolkit for Inclusion & Accessibility: Changing the Narrative of Disability
    FEBRUARY 2021 EDITION 1 in association with Doc Society supported by Netflix presents A Toolkit for Inclusion & Accessibility: Changing the Narrative of Disability in Documentary Film Image Description: A horizontal poster advertising the film ‘Crip Camp, A Disability Revolution’. 1970’s sunny outdoors, a young Black man, Alan Freeman, has a guitar over his shoulder and he stands, smiling, behind a white man, Neil Jacobson, who is using a wheelchair. 1 Contents 03 Introduction by Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht, Co-Directors of Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution 05 Executive Summary 11 The Opportunity 14 Crip Camp as a Case Study 22 Why Make Film Representation of Disability More Equitable? And How... 31 How to Make Films More Accessible for Audiences 45 How to Make the Filmmaking Process More Accessible for Team Members 54 Glossary & Useful Terms 56 References 58 Image Credits 59 Further Reading 61 Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution Credits 62 Acknowledgements 2 Image Description: Crip Camp Co-Director Nicole Newnham, a white woman with shoulder-length blonde hair wearing glasses, sits smiling beside Co-Director Jim LeBrecht, a white man with curly hair and a goatee beard, also smiling. Introduction by Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht, Co-Directors of Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution Our documentary film Crip Camp tells the story of Camp Jened, a groundbreaking summer camp that galvanised a group of teens with disabilities to help build a civil rights movement and forge a new path toward greater equality. When we set out to make it, we hoped to create an entertaining, universal and cinematic film that was imbued with authenticity, humour, courage and joy.
    [Show full text]
  • STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Teleconference Thursday May 7, 2020 Call to Order
    STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Teleconference Thursday May 7, 2020 Call to Order: Brittney Hogan called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m. A quorum was present. Roll Call: Members Present: Brittney Hogan, LaRae Gustafson, Russ Cusack, Mark Bourdon, Bill Willis, Drew Hanson, Gillian Plenty Chief, Jared Ferguson, Nancy Lundon, Sarah Bachmeier, Benjamin Johnson, Royce Schultze Members Absent: Brenda Boehler, Shannon Cook, Matthew White Others Present: Aimee Volk, Scott Burlingame, Randy Sorensen, Robyn Throlson, Angie Bosch, Nancy Nikolas-Maier, Annette Weigel Approval of February Minutes: Drew Hanson made a motion to approve the February minutes as presented, Gillian Plenty Chief seconded the motion. Motion passed by unanimous decision. Approval of May Agenda: LaRae Gustafson made a motion to approve the May SILC agenda as presented, Mark Bourdon seconded the motion. Motion passed by unanimous decision. Correspondence – Brittney Hogan: In April, the Centers for Independent Living (CILs) received supplemental funding provided by the COVID-19 Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) which was signed into law on March 27, 2020. The CARES Act provided $85 million in supplemental funds to CILs to respond directly to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was also guidance provided on reporting requirements for the State Plan for Independent Living (SPIL). Treasurer’s Report – Bill Willis: Went over treasurer’s report. Mark Bourdon made a motion to approve the treasurer’s report, Drew Hanson seconded by. Motion approved by unanimous decision. Bylaws Update – Aimee Volk: Explained proposed changes to add “or designees” to signing the SPIL as discussed at the February meeting.
    [Show full text]