inkflowers:

Survivors of North Carolina’s Eugenics Program

youmightfindyourself:

Photographs by Andy McMillan / Text by Maya Dusenbery, Mother Jones May. 9, 2012

Between 1929 and 1974, North Carolina sterilized more than 7,500 residents for being “feebleminded” and unfit to reproduce.

Between 1929 and 1974, North Carolina sterilized more than 7,500 of its residents. Most were operated on without their consent, having been deemed “feebleminded” and unfit to reproduce by the state Eugenics Board. Eighty-five percent were women; about 40 percent were black or Native American. As many as 2,000 victims are thought to still be alive.

Nationwide, 32 other states had eugenics programs during the 20th century, resulting in the sterilization of more than 60,000 Americans. While several states have formally apologized for this ugly chapter in their histories, North Carolina is the only one that has attempted to compensate its victims. In January, a state task force recommended that each living, verified victim be paid $50,000. Last month, Gov. Bev Perdue requested $10.3 million to cover the cost.

Elaine Riddick (above) has been one of the most outspoken advocates for the victims of North Carolina’s eugenics project. In 1968, when she was 14, she was raped and impregnated by an older neighbor. The Eugenics Board declared her “feebleminded” and “promiscuous.” Immediately after she gave birth to her son by cesarean section, she was sterilized. Her illiterate grandmother signed the consent form with an X. “I’ve never been feebleminded,” Riddick said during a hearing last summer (PDF). “They slandered me. They ridiculed and harassed me. They cut me open like I was a hog.”

Riddick’s son, Tony also spoke at the hearing. “If you want to know why I’m so passionate about this,” he explained, “[it] is because I saw what was done to my mother. I saw the rape that was done to my mother through the state.”

The majority of North Carolina’s sterilizations took place between 1946 and 1968; only 48 people were sterilized after 1971. Janice Black (above) was one of the final victims. When she was a teenager, Black’s family decided she shouldn’t have children and social workers labeled her “feebleminded.” Her name was the only thing the 18-year-old Black knew how to write when she agreed to be operated on in 1971. Today, she cleans medical equipment at the same hospital in Charlotte where her stepmother brought her to be sterilized more than 40 years ago. Black told the Charlotte Observer, “Sometimes I—what I feel like—that I wasn’t treated fairly. Like I was a human being. I was treated like I’m not no human being.”

mcgoats:

Is it really that hard to understand that someone with a body deemed “wrong” by society (PoC, people with disabilities, fat people, trans* people, etc) can love their bodies the best they can, have confidence, but still be able to acknowledge (and FEAR) that the world still views them as disgusting and will treat them accordingly? That the way the world views them can put them in not only emotional danger, but PHYSICAL danger?

Is it hard to understand, also, that some of these people can’t love their bodies because of a multitude of reasons (mental illness, trauma, societal pressure, oppression) and might never be able to, and there is NOTHING wrong with that? That it doesn’t mean you should respect them less, or respect people who can love themselves more?

(via thelittlekneesofbees)

So, about those fauxminists. You know the ones. They’re those supposed feminists who are all for gender equality who somehow manage to be either racist, classist, ableist, and/or transphobic, to name just a few oppressive behaviors.

In other words, fake feminists. “Feminists” who want equality only for white, cisgender, middle-class, non-disabled members of the cause.

Maybe I’m too idealistic, but isn’t feminism supposed to include everyone who believes in gender equality? It sounds like a simple, even rhetorical question, but after reading some of the oppressive, hateful, “I’m white/cis/middle-class/non-disabled and I’m right” kind of bullshit from people who are supposed to want gender equality for all women, I don’t know. I didn’t realize this until recently, but I guess I always thought that mainstream feminism is supposed to include everyone and account for factors like race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and dis/ability. This is at least partly because I’m a WOC and I cannot, I will not, separate my race and my gender. I’ll give you a real-life example of why I literally cannot do that:

There’s this auto repair shop in my neighborhood that I avoid because of the men there who like to make certain remarks. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve passed by and received unwelcome comments that often started, “Ni hao,” paired with a nod, a smile, and sometimes a wolf whistle or other disgusting reaction. In case you don’t know, “Ni hao” is how you greet someone in Mandarin Chinese. I wrote in a previous post that I hate this because I don’t speak Mandarin, Mandarin is not the only Chinese dialect, and I’m not a foreigner and should not be treated as one. In addition, hearing “ni hao” as verbal sexual harassment is all the more unwanted because I’m not some exotic China doll men have the right to speak to like that.

So, to the fauxminists who insist that addressing race and racism distracts from the real cause of feminism, this is why I cannot separate race and gender issues. My feminism must include discussions of race and racism because I am a woman of color, because I am a Chinese American feminist and I won’t have feminism any other way. As Flavia Dzodan would say, “MY FEMINISM WILL BE INTERSECTIONAL OR IT WILL BE BULLSHIT!” You would do well to listen to her.

spacedino:

brightorangerain:

The wheel perspective

Stella Young Ramp Up 27 Mar 2012

It doesn’t matter how we got like this. Really. Are you asking because you want to know or because you need to? If you’re just sitting next to one of us on the train, or taking our order at a cafe, you don’t actually need to know. If we’ve actually met and had a conversation beyond “Do you want honey with your chai?” then perhaps it gets a little more relevant. It might come up in conversation, and when it does, we’ll be happy to tell you. It’s just not a very good opening line.

We heart our chairs. I’ve had five wheelchairs in my lifetime and I’ve loved each one as much as the last. I’ve had my current chair for almost 17 years. Based on the recommendation that they should be replaced every seven or so years, this old girl is about 162 wheelchair-years old. She’s well worn and well loved. One day soon she’ll need replacing, and I’ll come to love that one too, I’m sure. My chair is the last thing I touch before I climb into bed at night, and the first when I climb out. And, let’s face it. without our chairs, there’d be no getting out of bed at all for a lot of us. We are not, as we so often see written, “wheelchair bound”. We are liberated by our chairs. They give us the freedom to be who we are, and we love them for it.

We don’t mind if you ask us to go for a walk. Seriously, there’s no need to avoid saying things like “I must be running along,” or “Let’s go for a walk.” Those kinds of phrases are a part of everyday language, and because we live in the real world too, we’re really not that sensitive. I have a blind friend who once told me that the most annoying thing that ever happens to her is people apologising for asking her if she sees their point. Touche.

We have heard that joke before. You know, the one you were just thinking of. The one about drink driving, or whether or not we have a licence. Even the one about putting a V8 engine on the chair. Heard it. We’ve heard them all, so forgive us if your brilliant one-liner only elicits a polite smile. Sorry about that.

We are not on the tram so that you can hang your shopping bags on us. Our chairs are a part of us and a part of our personal space. Leaning on someone’s wheelchair is a bit like leaning on someone’s shoulder. You wouldn’t do it to a stranger, or someone you’d only just met. And I’m willing to bet you wouldn’t hang your full-to-the-brim enviro-bags on someone’s conveniently outstretched arm. Your shopping may be heavy, but our chairs are not shelves.

Just because we are hanging out with a non-disabled person doesn’t mean they are a carer. Disabled people have friends, partners, kids, parents, siblings and families just like everyone else. Quite often these people are hanging out with us because they like to, not because we need looking after, or because they are kind, generous souls. It’s annoying when people assume the only reason someone is hanging out with you is because they have to. Many of us do have personal assistants to help out with some stuff we can’t do, but most of the time the people hanging out with us are just our mates.

We’re into all the same stuff you are. OK, maybe not exactly the same stuff (I’m really not into snowboarding, if I’m honest), but you know what I mean. We don’t all think about disability all the time. I like knitting and crafty things, as well as disability theory and politics, feminist things, comedy things and fashion things, too. I’m really lucky to have a job where I get to be quite nerdy about disability culture and politics as editor of Ramp Up. We can talk about everything from sport to politics, television to weird things non-disabled people say to us. (Not you, obviously, you’re lovely.) Having contact with so many different disabled folks in Australia reminds me how different we all are, even though we have some experiences in common.

Your kids are going to stare. And that’s perfectly OK. When you look different to everyone else they’ve ever seen, kids will naturally stare. There’s no need to be embarrassed about it or consider it bad behaviour. Kids are interested in anything that’s different to the norm. And the thing is, if you tell them not to stare, or discourage them from asking questions because you think it might upset us, you’re teaching them that looking different is something to be ashamed of. It’s not. We’d much rather have an honest conversation with your kids than have them shuffled away from us like we might bite them. Besides, eventually they’ll say something really cute and funny, like “Are you imaginary?” or “Why are you wearing shoes?”

Feel free to offer us a hand, but don’t get too upset if we say no. If you see someone who looks like they’re struggling to do something, it’s very tempting to jump in and do it for them. But you really shouldn’t. It’s absolutely fine to offer your assistance, but don’t be surprised if it isn’t required. Sometimes we look pretty clumsy doing everyday stuff, like shopping or knitting on the tram, because we might do it differently to the way you do it. But we’ve had years of practice at being us and we’re generally in control of what we’re doing. Make the offer by all means, but don’t be upset if we say “thanks, but no thanks.”

We don’t all know each other. No, I don’t know Jenny, the girl on your street who uses a wheelchair too.

We are not brave. Among the aforementioned weird things some non-disabled folk like to say to us are things like “Oh you’re so brave/courageous/inspirational!” We’re not, really. We’re just living our lives like everyone else. Just as you’ve worked out the easiest and most effective way to get along in life, so have we. There’s no need to praise us for just going about our everyday business. Going to the shops to buy milk doesn’t take any more courage for me than it does for you.

If you can use the regular loos, and they’re free, don’t use the disabled ones. OK, we get that not all disabilities are visible and there are all sorts of reasons someone might need a bit of extra space. A friend of mine is diabetic, and she prefers to use the disabled toilets so she has a bit more room to inject her insulin. That’s fair enough. But when we wait outside for 20 minutes and you stroll out with a newspaper and a completed sudoku under your arm, you probably weren’t checking your blood-sugar levels. If the other toilets are occupied, and you’re going to be quick, go ahead. Just remember that needing to poo is not an access requirement. Thanks.

.

I love so much about all of these points, especially the last one.

Going to throw in here, too, that I don’t give a shit if you’re “going to be quick”; don’t fucking park in the disabled parking spaces if you aren’t disabled. Jackasses. 

(via 57mannequins)

of-praxis:

strikematch:

stfufauxminists:

hedonisticparadise:

Feminism is about WOMEN’S RIGHTS. Why must we take the burden of ALL social justice, thus not fulfilling our main goal? My feminism will be about women’s rights, or it will be bullshit. There’s an anti-racism movement, there’s a LGBT movement, there’s a vegetarian/vegan/animal rights/environmental rights movement, and these movements do not include anything about women’s rights, so why must feminism accomodate all of them to not be deemed “useless”?

WHY ARE WE DEVIATING FROM OUR MAIN OBJECTIVES? I understand women may be oppressed by their race and sexual orientation and many other things, BUT, feminism is designed to grant them political and social equality based on their sex, and does not need to be perfect in every other way. I’m so sick of the political correctness, the constant “omgz you’re so transphobic”, the “my feminism will be intersectional” and the “omg, if we don’t involved this marginalised group, and that one, and that one and that one and all of them, feminism can’t exist!!!!!!!!”

Let me reiterate. FEMINISM IS ABOUT WOMEN. It must stay this way to be effective and must not get caught up with trans politics and other issues, because they have their own platforms in which you can be active. We  must bring back radical feminism. We’re all too fucking afraid to offend someone by being politically incorrect to make a global change. The only case in which this is acceptable is when one’s dealing with abuse and rape victims, in which it is absolutely disgusting to trigger someone.

Hey look everyone.

It’s like the quintessential STFU Fauxminists post.

SO BASICALLY FEMINISM IS JUST ABOUT WHITE, CIS, ABLE BODIED BIGOTED ASS WOMEN.

COOL, CHECK. THIS IS WHY NOBODY WANTS YOUR FUCKED UP MOVEMENT ANYWAY.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAAH

@hedonisticparadise: If feminism is about women’s rights, and women come in all races, ethnicities, genders, classes, and abilities, etc., then why wouldn’t it account for all of the racism, (cis)sexism, classism, and ableism that affect women who are not white, cis, middle-class, able-bodied/able-minded, etc.? I identify as a feminist, but you can’t expect me to set aside my Chinese heritage just so I can participate in feminism without “deviating from [your] (white, cis, middle-class, able-bodied/able-minded) main objective.” The fact that I am a Chinese American female, that I am a woman of color in a white-dominated patriarchy, will always affect my feminism. I don’t expect you to be able to empathize (since you’re not Chinese American, but even if you were, not all people of color will necessarily feel the same way on a subject), but I do expect you to have respect for people who want to participate in feminism.

To quote Flavia Dzodan, MY FEMINISM WILL BE INTERSECTIONAL OR IT WILL BE BULLSHIT.

(via cosmopolitan-fascist)

a-bayani:

fromonesurvivortoanother:

[photo: black and white image of a bearded, white, tattoo’d, bespectacled person wearing a black tshirt, overalls and cap, sitting in a motorized mobility scooter, clasping their hands together while smiling big, with their forearm crutches sticking up behind them; text reads: “Know what i’m tired of? Images of disabled people doing random things, turned into “inspiration porn”. These images (e.g. children joyfully running with their prosthetic legs, someone painting with their toes, an elder skiing, etc), are then emblazoned with text like “what’s your excuse?”, “your excuse is invalid”, “if ___ can do it, why can’t you?” and other gems. They call on non-disabled people to buck up and stop making excuses for not doing something, and guilt other disabled folks into feeling like crap for not being able to pull themselves up by the proverbial bootstraps & “just do it”. These images & sentiments are an ableist tool. They exceptionalize disabled people based in ablesist notions of accomplishment & worth. They build on & reenforce able bodied pitydom of gimps. Just fucking stop it ok? We’re just doing our thing, yknow? We are not a goddamn guilt-trip tool to get you to do stuff. Please, if you need to use gimps as a tool to get you to do stuff, yer using the wrong starting point. (*for example, in this photo, i am simply enjoying a moment with a friend… I AM NOT YOUR INSPIRATION!)”]

not sure why people would post this without the image description when there was one right there in the original blog post to use…

ableism— it’s not just lazy, it’s incredibly lazy.

“and guilt other disabled folks into feeling like crap for not being able to pull themselves up by the proverbial bootstraps & “just do it”

feeling. this. so. hard.

i have “invisible disabilities” and i’ve never felt comfortable using the word disability because it is that invisible, regardless of how debilitating they can be. i am in near-constant pain, especially when sitting or standing. i have seizures that will drop me to the floor and afterwards i can’t stand or walk, sometimes for hours. so it feels fucking crushing to be writhing on the floor and crying because everything hurts so much that my vision blacks out and all i can do is scream and feel so fucking guilty all the time for being late to stuff because i had a seizure, or missing weeks of school and not getting it excused because i don’t look disabled enough to be disabled, AND THEN people pile on all this bullshit about “look at these people who are (presumably) in worse condition than you, if they can live out their dreams then so can you, you just have to try you’re just lazy you’re just making excuses you are lucky you’re still young blah blah blah” ugh. anyway. i think this ties into an overarching theme of people with privilege thinking that people they perceive to have less privilege are so “brave” “inspiring” etc. just for existing because our lives must be soooo difficult that the privileged person can’t even imagine how awful it must be to be us so they feel like we have “excuses” that we haven’t used or don’t need because we’re so ~strong in the face of adversity~ and they don’t have any “excuses” for not achieving something that even a [insert marginalized group here] can achieve. something like that.

(via etiquette-etc)