Category: disabilty

DisabilityPride.net Announces…

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By Mary Wilson

Two white women are smiling at the camera for a selfie. The woman on the left has blonde hair and is wearing a pink sweater. The woman on the right has brown and grey hair and is wearing a red sweater and a necklace.

After years of pestering from friends, family, and readers of this blog, after starting to plan it at 12 years old, after numerous false starts, Gerianne is FINALY writing her autobiography.

To facilitate writing, to ensure she has the time and energy to focus on her storied life, Gerianne has asked me to take over most of the responsibilities for writing and maintaining DisabilityPride.net’s blog. I humbly accepted the opportunity she presented to me, to maintain part of her life’s work and help keep her on track to complete her biggest piece of writing ever.

I hope I am able to bring joy and entertainment to every reader! I am excited to build on Gerianne’s legacy of disability pride and to flex my writing muscles again. I am also eager to see what Gerianne’s autobiography will be! She has led an interesting, exciting, and inspiring life. I have heard many of her stories but I know there are many more that will surprise me.

If you have any ideas for content you would like to see here or in our First Voice newsletter, contact us! We accept submissions at firstvoice@disabilitypride.net and we love hearing from you on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/DisabilityPride.net)! We want to see your art and photography, read your stories and learn about issues and ideas that matter to you.

DisabilityPride.net is a community. We are here to bring pride to everyone and the best way to do that is with your inspiration and input.

Remembering the Disabled Victims of Filicide

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graphic of 3 abstract lit candles with the text reading disability day of mourning, remembering people with disabilities murdered by their families

Courtesy of https://disability-memorial.org/

Every year on March 1st we acknowledge the Disability Community Day of Mourning. This year, more than any other, will mark a very different look to the way we mourn as a community. In the face of a pandemic that has had a disproportionate effect on disabled people and their communities, it is more important for us to honor the lives of disabled people murdered by those closest to them. Disabled people in our communities are generally ignored and it has become even more difficult to raise awareness of the problem of filicide of disabled people with the constant onslaught of tragedy caused by Covid-19.

Disabled people are receiving significantly less support than non-disabled people when it comes to healthcare specifically related to Covid-19. With ICUs being forced to prioritize life-saving measures based on criteria that is beyond the understanding of laypeople, including taking into account perceived “quality of life” as a determining factor in some cases. Disabled people are far too often seen as having less “quality of life” than non-disabled people which leads doctors to place them further down the priority list when it comes to finite resources in life-saving measures. This specific criterion frequently demonstrates that even (or especially???) doctors do not have a fundamental understanding of what it actually is to be disabled.

In Canada we are also facing the enshrinement in law of the assumption that disabled people have less “quality of life” in the amendments being proposed to Canada’s Criminal Code and Medical Aid in Dying laws through Bill C-7 which is currently being debated in Parliament. Bill C-7 includes expanding MAiD to people who experience “grievous and irremediable medical condition” but do not have an immediately foreseeable risk of death due to their condition. The United Nations has come down on this proposed amendment, citing that as a signatory nation on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Canada would be in violation of that convention if the amendment to our Criminal Code is passed.

When it comes to the murder of disabled people by family and support people, we see the “quality of life” argument brought up in almost every single case. How often have we heard someone who murdered a disabled person defend themselves (usually to very sympathetic audience) by proclaiming that the victim was suffering? That their life was miserable, sad, pain-filled, and restrictive. That the murderer would want someone to do the same (kill them?) for them if they had been disabled.

The idea that some lives, especially disabled lives, are “less than” other lives is a terrifying and dangerous one. Subjective criteria like “quality of life” and “grievous and irremediable” open the door for increased discrimination, decreased social support, and as demonstrated by the ongoing pandemic, decreased access to resources that will sustain or improve a life for people who don’t conform to the “standard model” of what personhood is perceived to be.

The ongoing pandemic and Canada’s Bill C-7 are just large-scale demonstrations of what can happen when peoples’ lives are assigned “value” by some arbitrary set of criteria. We see smaller demonstrations of the same every time a disabled person is murdered by someone they are supposed to trust. It will be difficult to mourn the disabled lives lost to MAiD and the pandemic because there will be so many and it will be in a hospital or under a doctor’s care. We will continue to mourn disabled people who die violent deaths at the hands of trusted individuals and hope that the parallels are drawn between the three types of event.

Today, we remember and mourn:

Terri-Lynn Thompson – murdered by her husband October 14, 2019 in Belleville Ontario

Florence Girard – neglected by her paid attendant until she starved to death on October 13, 2018 in Vancouver British Columbia

Douglas Fischer – murdered by his daughter’s ex partner, part of a multiple murder, March 29, 2018 in Bluevale, Ontario

Levi Illingayuk – killed by his son in a fight, February 3, 2018 in Clyde River, Nunavut

Ninon Hardie – murdered by her son, December 6, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario

Richard Dubuc – killed by his brother, October 5, 2017 in Montreal, Quebec

Ryanna Grywacheski – murdered by her boyfriend, September 16, 2017 in Marystown, Newfoundland

Kaylie Lis-Lalande – neglected by her mother until she died from complications from starvation and dehydration, September 4, 2017 in Oakville, Ontario

Jocelyne Lizotte – killed by her husband February 20, 2017 in Montreal, Quebec

Lydia Whitford – died from unknown causes suspected to be the result of homicide or neglect at the hands of her foster mother, July 14, 2016 in Stonewall, Manitoba

Ronald McCabe – murdered by his son, March 7, 2016 in Kitchener, Ontario

Irene Carter – murdered by her daughter, January 13, 2016 in Lethbridge, Alberta

Jessica Hagan – murdered by her mother, September 8, 2015 in Cranston, Alberta

Anne Schmidt – murdered by her son, July 5, 2015 in Vineland, Ontario

Emily Janzen – murdered (along with her mother and aunt) by her father, May 7, 2015 in Rosedale, British Columbia

2020 Reflections

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So, that was a year we’ll never forget, wasn’t it?

2020 was an unexpected rollercoaster and while I am not sorry to see the end of it and I’m eager to move forward and greet 2021 with hope for less chaos, I want to recognize some truly amazing things that 2020 brought us at DisabilityPride.net.

Firstly, Gerianne and I started 2020 off with a new adventure, participating in TeamWork Cooperative’s Self Employment Workshop where I learned just how much Gerianne hates market research and Gerianne and I both learned that there are many ways to go about building a successful business and we have to determine our own definition of successful. We enjoyed getting to know many other entrepreneurs and made a few friends while we were attending the workshops. Unsurprisingly, the workshop was cancelled in mid-March when everything was thrown into lockdown. While Gerianne did not “graduate” from the program we did gain valuable experience there and are incredibly grateful to TeamWork for giving us the opportunity to participate.

As we entered lockdown and people were required to isolate for a variety of reasons, our staffing pool became fairly shallow. Gerianne and I were together almost all day, almost every day for a fair chunk of March and April due to various isolation and quarantine requirements. This would have probably driven most working relationships into the ground but we managed to flourish as a team. The main part of the reason for this was our ability to get along and communicate very well. We both had bad days, we both had good days. They didn’t always coincide but we were able to work together through them and produce some amazing content and a wide variety of projects.

Gerianne was determined to not sit idle while the world was essentially shut down. She completed and excelled at several courses on online marketing and search engine optimization. We both participated in and completed ARCH Disability Law’s Community Champions stream on the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Optional Protocols and how those can be used by disability rights activists in Canada. It was an eye-opening experience that gave us insight into the various avenues for and challenges with defending inclusion and disabled people’s human rights within Canada and around the world.

DisabilityPride.net just finished our first newsletter (check it out if you haven’t seen it!) and we have started to explore video production. We have big ideas and big plans, many of which started forming during this complicated adventure in various stages of lockdown.

Gerianne also began the adventure of diversifying her income opportunities and has been incredibly successful selling vintage and second-hand furniture and décor. We have also collected a number of stories from Gerianne’s customers that we hope to turn into either posts on the blog or a collection of vignettes for the newsletter’s next edition.

Though this year was professionally a success, I would be remiss to not acknowledge the difficulties in the non-professional sphere. I spent a significant length of time away from my children as they were visiting family out-of-province when lockdown began. Gerianne and I spent almost every night I was here with my kids reading us bedtime stories. I am forever grateful to my family, who kept my kids safe, happy and healthy during a time their father and I couldn’t be there with them physically.

Gerianne has been diligent about maintaining the health and safety of herself and her attendants, which means adhering to all guidelines from the Department of Health. As a result, she has been home more often in the last 9 months than she probably has in the last 4 years. She has missed participating in her community, including church, immensely. She has also deeply missed seeing her family and friends.

We have had an unprecedented year. 2020 will be a forever bittersweet time but I am proud to have accomplished so much during a global crisis. If there had to be anyone by my side during such an event, I’m infinitely grateful I had Gerianne (and my family) with me for this adventure.

National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women – Inclusion Matters

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December 6th is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. It is the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, where in 1989 at L’École Polytechnique de Montreal, 14 young women were brutally murdered. It is a day to remember all women who have faced violence simply for being women, a day to act against that violence and a day to reflect on how much and changed and how much has yet to change when it comes to violence against women in Canada.

Disabled women in Canada are more likely to face violence than almost any other group of people. They are also among the least likely to report it and violence against disabled women is one of the least researched intersections of violence against women. I became overwhelmed by the data when I was researching this but I recommend DAWN Canada’s Fact Sheet on Women with Disabilities and Violence to see some truly alarming numbers. (What I need to note about this fact sheet is that the data used frequently does not include women living in institutional settings so the problem of violence against disabled women can be assumed to be much, much worse than these numbers indicate.)

There are numerous reasons for this, but the main one I can think of is that all people with disabilities struggle to see full inclusion with every aspect of our world. When we say “inclusion matters” we don’t just mean inclusive classrooms and workplaces. We don’t just mean removing physical barriers that bar access to space many of us take for granted. Inclusion matters because women with disabilities need access to the same spaces and resources as everyone else but due to the too-numerous-to-count barriers disabled women do not have anywhere near the level of inclusion they need, let alone deserve.

Inclusion matters because due to the lack of inclusion, women with disabilities are more vulnerable than almost any other identifiable group. They are the most likely people to experience systematic, institutionalized and pervasive violence, removing their humanity and ability to participate in society. Their agency is removed at almost every level and when disabled women experience violence, they have no support structure, no resources to escape.

Inclusion matters, and by pushing for greater inclusion of women with disabilities in all parts of life we will be contributing to the reduction of violence against disabled women.

Celebrating International Day of People with Disabilities

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By Mary Wilson

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The topic for this year’s International Day of People with Disabilities is “Not all disabilities are visible.” The awareness and discussion of invisible disabilities is close to my heart and always on my mind. Invisible disabilities are varied and, as the name suggests, frequently hidden. This makes them hard to broadly define and changes the conversation around what disability means. There is still significant stigma around mental illness, neurological disorders, and other disabilities that have not immediately identifiable components.

I, personally, define disability as something inherent to a person that disables their interactions with and inclusion in society. It’s not just about encountering barriers to physical spaces, it’s not about medical issues that require frequent intervention or monitoring. It goes far beyond and far deeper than the physical and medical aspects of illness, injury, or other bodily variations. It is something unchangeable about a person that makes their inclusion and participation in every day activities impossible, unlikely or difficult.

I am the parent of two children with invisible disabilities. Labeling my children as disabled is still something I struggle with and frequently just dance around while juggling multiple medications, specialists, appointments, classroom and learning adaptations and ensuring that my kids have the emotional support and tools to deal with the knowledge that they are “different.”

My struggle with the label comes from a feeling of not having earned the right to it. Because our needs and challenges aren’t “serious” or severe even though we deal with them every hour of every day, my kids don’t face major barriers to access, they can play and socialize and attend class. They have what I would consider “passing rights” as non-disabled which I’ve internalized as having less claim to the label and being reluctant to use it. I have met numerous families who have faced SIGNIFICANT barriers to their inclusion in activities I and my children take for granted and I feel like appropriating the label, even in the context of disability pride, may not be the most sensitive thing to do.

This is a common problem amongst people with invisible disabilities. Because they don’t have to face obvious physical barriers, because some days their disability doesn’t affect their lives much, because the world outside their closest circle doesn’t perceive them as “other” those with invisible disabilities are prone to rejecting or downplaying the label of “disabled.” As my involvement in the disability pride movement has grown, my relationship with the label has changed.

Being able to embrace the label “disabled” is a journey and an adventure. Making sure my children are able to share that label with people we love and admire is a privilege. I will continue to grow my relationship with invisible disabilities and with my children, allowing the experience of parenting to develop under the lens of invisible disability. I will allow my children to chose their own labels and develop their own relationships with their bodies and minds, to explore what makes them disabled and identify how their disability provides them a unique viewpoint and experience.