Who Am I To Stop It

Listen to this post: [The podcast audio is at the bottom of the post.] This is an encore presentation of a 2017 interview with Jane Vogel of Advance Gender Equity in the Arts (AGE) and filmmaker Gigi Williams. Advancing equity is not the same as increasing diversity. I’ve talked to people who genuinely celebrate being […]

Listen to this post: Oh, how I love a good pun and love working with great local organizations. Starting October 1st, both are all wrapped into one fun series of events called Doctober at NW Documentary. We’re so thrilled to be a small part of Doctober. Please join us for a screening of Brandon’s Story […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast audio is at the bottom of the page.] When you think about accessible housing, what comes to mind first? For many people, it’s structural pieces like ramps in place of stairs, grab bars in the bathroom, lower counters and cupboards, and other kinds of physical designs. I’ll ask you […]

Listen to this post. I am so very honored and excited to be partnering with Real Choice Initiative for Independent Living Movie Night! Info on the flyer: Independent Living Movie Night Saturday, September 22 2:00 – 4:00 pm 6401 SE Foster Rd. $5-$25 suggested donation We will be showing three short films from Cheryl Green, […]

Listen to this post: I’m headed down to San Antonio later today, in fact, to lead a storytelling workshop at the Texas Brain Injury Conference. And I’ve been exasperated lately with people telling me what my story is and how to tell it. Nowhere is it actually written that a TBI story is required to include gory details of a wreck or any […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast episode is at the bottom of the page.] Tatyana Fazlalizadeh created a campaign in 2012 called “Stop Telling Women to Smile” in response to street harassment. I love the campaign. It was relevant then and just as much today, unfortunately. Add to the conversation disability, and you get Sarabjit Parmar’s experience […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast episode is at the bottom of this page.] Meet Colleen and her guide dog, Joplin, our first episode in a series of stories from people with their working dogs. Here they are, snuggling. Colleen runs the Blind Inspirationcast with the goal of “changing the world’s perspective regarding visual impairments through motivational […]

Listen to this post: (Podcast audio is at the bottom of the post.) Happy May Day, everyone. Don’t forget: President Eisenhower attempted to turn this labor organizing day into a national “Loyalty Day” celebration where people were supposed to reaffirm their love for and loyalty to the U.S. and its “heritage of freedoms.” Odd choice […]

Listen to this post: I first heard about Jess Thom several years ago talking about Backstage in Biscuit Land. For that show, Jess delightfully warns audiences, “having Tourettes means I’m neurologically incapable of staying on script, and that’s where the fun starts.” While Jess also uses the name Touretteshero, please don’t mistake her for the one-dimensional […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast audio is at the bottom of the post.] Some people can really relate to flippant comments like, “Yeah, this place is accessible. It only has two stairs.” Or, “We could just get a sign language student to volunteer to interpret our event to save some money” Or, “It’s not […]

Listen to this post: Check out the Real Choice Initiative Open House this Thursday, March 29th and get to know this great new non-profit. Real Choice Initiative is about housing justice focused on disability access. It’s a peer-led movement: people with disabilities supporting others with disabilities to find and get accessible, affordable housing. This isn’t […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast audio is at the bottom of the post.] Here’s an audio-only version of my short documentary “In My Home.” This was made for the Free Our People Film Contest and Festival in 2017, and it continues to be a reminder of the anti-institutionalization movement that’s so important for disability […]

Listen to this post: Even more exciting work coming from Portland’s disability art and social justice organization, DACP. “GET REAL”: An interactive work-in-progress forum theater about employment and economic justice. Join Disability Art and Culture Project to learn about economic justice for people with disabilities in Oregon through forum theater, and cultivate REAL change for our [&#8230...

Listen to this post: Content Notice: This post is specifically about sexual violence against disabled people, but it won’t contain graphic information. Read or not, according to your needs. First off, can I just say that if you come across Rooted in Rights‘ name on anything, it’s going to be stellar? OK, I said it. […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast episode is at the bottom of the post.] Disability Art and Culture Project is the only disability and social justice arts organization in Portland, and every year, the work gets more involved and more exciting. This is a recording of the Dis/Representation panel from November 30, 2017, “Immigrants and […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast episode is at the bottom of the post.] We just had lots of women’s marches. And while they’re an important and valuable event, they’re not without their problems. Emily Ladau wrote on The Establishment last year about the same old broken record of “forgetting” that disability rights are rights […]

Listen to this post: [The podcast episode is at the bottom of the post.] Here we are! The new podcast is alive. It’s a Pigeonhole, and this is just a brief promo episode to say hi. Music in this episode: “Refraction” by Podington Bear. (Source: freemusicarchive.org. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.) […]

Listen to this post: My website and email got hacked recently, and it’s been a hassle and time suck to try to get back in order. (If you got 10,000 spam emails from me, it wasn’t me. But I’m sorry nonetheless.) On the phone with six tech support people, when I finally got to the […]

Listen to this post: Are you in Rochester, NY? If you are, can I come and see you? Because I’m thrilled to say that I’ll be there August 7th for the Free Our People Film Festival put on by Center for Disability Rights in New York State. There’s kind of two ways I think about […]

Listen to this post: In just a couple weeks is an amazing looking conference in Berkeley called Tearing Down Walls, Building Bridges: The Disabled Latinx Movement. It’s put on by the National Coalition for Latinxs with Disabilities (CNLD) and Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF). There will be a wide range of presentations from scholars, […]

Listen to this post: It’s time to wish Happy Birthday to Krip-Hop Nation! Read up on some great news from their press release below, and follow the link at the bottom for the new CD. And follow all the other links all over the place for the best music and lyrics. Krip-Hop Nation has grown […]

Listen to this post: Krip-Hop Nation is at it again! Well, to be fair, they never stop. But here comes a new and fantastic collaboration with Simon Manda and This Ability Newspaper and Krip-Hop Nation. Their new plans include a tour to South Africa, a film, a book, and probably more. So it’s serious fundraising […]

Listen to this post: This isn’t the first time I’ve written on this blog about adaptive bicycles, how glorious they are, and what they represent. They represent adaptability and innovation. They also represent a more holistic, fair symbol of inclusion. Not the kind of inclusion where you have to be or act as non-disabled as […]

Listen to this post: If you already don’t like the idea of the new film “Me Before You” or you want to know reasons some disabled activists don’t like it, this is the post for you. Today I’m blogging and aggregating. The best part? So many people have already written reviews, rounded up posts, and are quoting […]

Listen to this post: May is Stroke Awareness Month, and I have some of my favorite kind of awareness-raising to share! It’s my favorite because it’s not an anatomy lesson, it’s not disconnected from society and stigma, and it’s not a doctor talking about their patients’ experiences. What it is, is the very fine Krip-Hop Nation artist […]