Kurt Fearnley vs Jetstar

You might have heard the name Kurt Fearnley. He’s an Australian Paralympic athlete (marathon) who recently took on the Kokoda Track. He usually uses a wheelchair. The Kokoda Track is hardly wheelchair accessible. Fearnley walked on his arms.
Fearnley took a Jetstar flight on his way home, and staff insisted that he check in his wheelchair [...]

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18th Down Under Feminists’ Carnival!

Welcome to the 18th Down Under Feminists’ Carnival! (And apologies for the delay.)
This Carnival has an optional caring theme, thanks to Australian Carers’ Week (which was October 18 to October 24). The theme for this year was “Anyone, Anytime, Across Australia”, which I modified to “Anyone, Anytime” for the purposes of the DUFC.
There wasn’t much [...]

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The privilege of choice

I know it’s no longer Carers’ Week, nor is it still October, the month in relation to which I’m hosting the DUFC (you are still welcome to send me submissions by email, by the way, although anything sent via the blog carnival site will no longer come to me).
However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be [...]

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Caring and intersectionality: carers can be people with disabilities, too!

Just another reminder that it’s Carers Week this week and I’m hosting the Carers’ Week-themed DUFC early next month.
Take a look at the information about halfway down the linked page under the heading “Impacts of caring”. The first sentence under the heading is:
Carers have been found to have the lowest health and wellbeing of any [...]

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Quickhit: Australia could recognise chronic pain as a condition in its own right

This seems like good news to me:
Professor Cousins, the director of the Pain Management Research Institute at the University of Sydney and Royal North Shore Hospital, has led a national draft strategy to have pain management addressed as part of the Federal Government’s national health reforms.
This doesn’t mean the government will actually do anything, but [...]

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The tragedy in Rossiter’s right to die

Christian Rossiter is dead. RIP.
I stayed out of the debate about Rossiter’s win in the Supreme Court at the time, partly because I didn’t have the time to get involved in the discussion in the depth it deserves, but also because it is quite a painful issue for me.
My grandmother chose to die by rejecting [...]

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Greg Smith proves that the NSW Opposition should remain in opposition

(Not that I’m saying the NSW Government has proved it should stay in government, mind you!)
Anyway, the SMH this morning has reported that the NSW Opposition spokesman on legal affairs, Greg Smith, apparently thinks that people with disabilities are dangerous.
Talk about epic fail!
I actually think that Hatzistergos gets this pretty much right:
“The comments made by [...]

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Healthism in yoga

A couple of months ago, I wrote against the healthist attitude displayed by a yoga instructor.
This post is a sort of corollary to that post. I originally thought of writing it for Blogging Against Disablism Day, but it seemed a bit much of the “all about me” kind, which I didn’t think was appropriate for [...]

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