Today is the first T-21 Blog Hop for 2014.
As I was looking over Hops of years past, I was considering where to go next. That got me thinking...
So much of what is perpetuated about disability, both inside and outside various communities continues to be based on supposition, prejudice and ultimately, stereotypes. As it turns out, we are still not "all in this together". From the grief rhetoric to inspiration porn to privilege to (not so) quietly painting those that you claim to represent as burdens, forever children or worse, these forms of ableism, are just as rampant as any other.
They all hurt; and they will continue to do so until change comes about.
Speak up about it? You must be angry/mentally ill/bitter/not accepting of "your lot in life" (whatever that means) or even a bully. I get a lot of mail or comments like this; many outspoken advocates do. I am in some very good company with that one.
Instead of allowing the message to be diluted, instead of taking the easy road and pretending that certain things just don't exist or coating them in fairy dust, I'm going to embrace the angry. 2014, for me, is going to be louder. Possibly both leaner and meaner, but definitely louder. With that in mind, this month's blog hop theme will reflect social justice. It will be for calling out, for demanding, for saying "we are not going to be silent". Call it solidarity for the angry. Call it whatever you wish. We'll call it "architects of change".
Acceptance, fairness, equality: these things are not to be taken lightly. We are not all on the same journey. Some of us have taken different roads; it is at our common intersections that we will now meet.
For three days, add your posts, both old and new. Let's set the tone for a year of change.
As I was looking over Hops of years past, I was considering where to go next. That got me thinking...
So much of what is perpetuated about disability, both inside and outside various communities continues to be based on supposition, prejudice and ultimately, stereotypes. As it turns out, we are still not "all in this together". From the grief rhetoric to inspiration porn to privilege to (not so) quietly painting those that you claim to represent as burdens, forever children or worse, these forms of ableism, are just as rampant as any other.
They all hurt; and they will continue to do so until change comes about.
Speak up about it? You must be angry/mentally ill/bitter/not accepting of "your lot in life" (whatever that means) or even a bully. I get a lot of mail or comments like this; many outspoken advocates do. I am in some very good company with that one.
Instead of allowing the message to be diluted, instead of taking the easy road and pretending that certain things just don't exist or coating them in fairy dust, I'm going to embrace the angry. 2014, for me, is going to be louder. Possibly both leaner and meaner, but definitely louder. With that in mind, this month's blog hop theme will reflect social justice. It will be for calling out, for demanding, for saying "we are not going to be silent". Call it solidarity for the angry. Call it whatever you wish. We'll call it "architects of change".
Acceptance, fairness, equality: these things are not to be taken lightly. We are not all on the same journey. Some of us have taken different roads; it is at our common intersections that we will now meet.
For three days, add your posts, both old and new. Let's set the tone for a year of change.
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