Recommended Reading: Writer's Block Edition

I have been trying to write a post and trying to write a post and trying to write a post. In the meantime, it has been so long since my last post that a friend from college feared that I might be dead. I have things to say! And slowly they are being typed, and eventually they will end up here. In the meantime, here are links:


Amanda recently started posting pieces of the Autistic Passing Project, which is an art project that she made using quotes from anonymous autistic people on the subject of passing. She's done an awesome job of collecting quotes and arranging them in a visually interesting way. Anyone who thinks that trying to be "indistiguishable from peers" makes autistic people happier should read this.

In response to the ridiculousness of Simon Baron-Cohen's latest book, autistic author Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg started the website Autism and Empathy. She has collected a bunch of academic articles refuting the lack-of-empathy myth. She's also accepting submissions!

Why So Much Abuse Is Allowed to Continue in Residential Care is an excellent article published, surprisingly, by TIME. It discusses human nature, Milgram, and the corrupting influence of power. The author also suggests policies which need to be put in place to reduce institutional abuse, such as surprise inspections. The article's one failing is that it does not mention de-institutionalization, which is, of course, the best way to keep disabled people out of abusive institutions.

Finally, here's an awesome disabled historical figure: Götz von Berlichigen, a badass sixteenth-century knight who used a very advanced prosthetic arm and pioneered the phrase "kiss my ass."

Recommended Reading: Finals Week Edition

Okay, so it's finals week and I want to write a post but I don't have time to write my own post so instead I'll link to other people's posts. These are all things I've found recently that I think are important and wanted to share. The "recommended reading" post itself is in the style of FWD-Forward, which does a similar link roundup every weekday and which I would most definitely recommend.

First, Amanda recently did a series of posts on the concept of "social skills" that changed the way I think. They are collected here:
Social Skills Don't Exist

Secondly! My friend Asher wrote a Trans 101 that explains sex and gender identity without using transphobic language.
Not Your Mom's Trans 101

I found this brilliant essay by Cal Montgomery a while ago. It deals with a lot of things, but mostly the way that people talk about dependence as it relates to disability.
Critic of the Dawn

Finally, some takes on aspects of Glee that have annoyed the fuck out of me recently:
Dear Ryan Murphy: I have words about Glee
Glee: A Very Glee Christmas