New to the Blogroll: Bad Cripple

If you've never read William Peace's writings, then you need to go here and check out his blog named Bad Cripple . I was quite surprised to discover I didn't have his blog in my blogroll, but added it yesterday!

He writes:

I am a cultural anthropologist and writer interested in disability studies, body art and modification, and the history of anthropology. I am divorced and have a son, Tom, who is 16 years old.

and his is a valuable voice in the disability community. I found this on his blog yesterday and wish more people would read, so I'll post it today:

I know far too much about those barriers. I know barriers are needless, overwhelming and sometimes oppressive. On bad days, I truly struggle to leave my home. I do not want to encounter someone who thinks I am public property and suggests that if I prayed really hard could walk again. I do not want to have a stranger tell me it is "amazing" the way I get my wheelchair in and out of my car. What I want is illusive, the ability to blend in and be, well, ordinary. Social equality is simply not something that I experience often. I am different and in many ways proud of my difference, that is proud to be disabled. However, on those bad days my difference, my disability, feels like a chain pulling me down into an abyss from which I fear I will not emerge. It is on these bad days that I force myself to think not of myself but of all those other people with a disability that are not as lucky as I am. I live in a nice house, have a large and supportive family, am highly educated, and have a son I love very much. I thus force myself to move forward for others who find themselves stuck in a nursing home, are unemployed, alone, or simply not able to deal with social oppression. If I give up, if I accept the stigma associated with disability I fear it will create a domino affect in which one disabled person after another will fall. I will simply not let this happen.
via Bad Cripple