Owner: Crip's Column URL:http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/crips-column Join Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2007 05:40:00 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: View from my wheelchair - Victoria Brignell on life as a disabled person. Site statistics:Click here
A miracle convention for the disabled? 2008-06-03 06:13:19 Fine words without actions are meaningless but actions usually only come about after fine words have been written - Victoria Brignell celebrates a new UN convention Last month the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities came into force. It may not be a snappy title but it marks an important development in disabled people's pursuit of equality. Sixty years after the or Read more:miracle
A miracle convention for the disabled? 2008-06-03 06:13:19 Fine words without actions are meaningless but actions usually only come about after fine words have been written - Victoria Brignell celebrates a new UN convention Last month the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities came into force. It may not be a snappy title but it marks an important development in disabled people's pursuit of equality. Sixty years after the or Read more:miracle
Sliding doors 2008-05-06 07:07:59 How much being disabled has altered the course of a life - Victoria Brignell ponders whether being in a wheelchair has actually made all that much difference...During the year I spent doing journalism training in Cardiff, a film was released called Sliding
Doors. Starring Gwynneth Paltrow, it shows two versions of the same woman’s life. At the start of the film you see her running for a tube t
Ancient world 2008-04-07 07:24:00 Smeared in mustard, paraded naked - the curious and often cruel treatment of disabled people in Ancient
Rome, Sparta and GreeceThis summer’s special exhibition at the British Museum is an exploration of the life and achievements of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (he who did so much to boost the North England tourist industry). Although the exhibition doesn’t open until the end of July, I’ve alre
Anniversary 2008-03-05 07:34:54 Victoria Brignell celebrates her silver disability anniversary and explains why she wants to celebrate her 25 years as a "Crip."This year holds a special significance for me. June 1st will be the 25th anniversary of me becoming disabled. This raises the question – should I mark the anniversary in some way? And if so – how?
We mark all the other milestones in life – birthdays, weddings, Read more:Anniversary
Architectural apartheid 2008-02-11 05:45:01 With a combination of careful thought, determination and technical ingenuity, any building can be made accessible There’s no doubting the fact that, since the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act in 1995, access to buildings has improved substantially in the UK. I’ve noticed the change myself. Back in the 1980s, if I made an enquiry about wheelchair access, there was a 50-50 chanc
Bureaucracy 2008-01-15 03:56:15 If you have a phobia of forms, I recommend you don’t become severely disabledI wish to make a complaint. When you become disabled, no one warns you about the paperwork. Very soon you realise that your new life is going to be dominated by form filling. Disability is undoubtedly a bureaucratic business. If you have a phobia of forms, I recommend you don’t become severely disabled.
First there
Cripsmas 2007-12-18 04:49:14 For us crips Christmas isn’t exactly a time of undiluted joy and pleasureWith Christmas swiftly approaching, I was planning to entertain you this month with a warm, uplifting festive story about Eddie the paraplegic elf who gains a job in Santa's toy factory thanks to a grant from the government's Access to Work scheme.
However, at the present time I'm feeling a distinct sympathy towards Scroo
Terminology 2007-11-20 06:00:06 Victoria Brignell takes us on a trip across the often controversial territory of language and disabilityEarlier this month a friend of mine invited me to comedian Jeremy Hardy’s one-man show in Colchester.
Much of his routine seemed to concern death. After talking about the News Quiz ("If there are any News Quiz fans in the audience, I suggest you make the most of us because we’re dropping lik
Dominated by ambulist metaphors 2007-10-30 04:31:55 Victoria ponders how English - a language she loves - is institutionally 'disablist' While at junior school, I was fortunate enough to have a remarkable teacher called Mrs Brown (not her real name) who was passionate about English literature.
It was Mrs Brown who first introduced me to Classics by giving me a children’s story about the fall of Troy. (Little did she realise that nine years late Read more:Dominated
, metaphors
Envying the Daleks 2007-09-12 06:32:09 In her latest column, Victoria Brignell mourns the hours that pass without the beloved Doctor who may be an example for us all and reveals how she envies the DaleksFor the last few weeks I, together with thousands of other people, have been suffering from an uncomfortable and distressing condition. It’s known in medical circles as Doctor Who withdrawal syndrome (DWWS).
Yes, dear reader, I thou
Where there is art there is hope 2008-07-01 07:21:04 How the disabled - many of them victims of a long-running and bloody conflict - are helping bridge the ethnic divide in Sri Lanka against a background of escalating violenceThe island of Sri Lanka should be a tropical paradise. With its golden palm-fringed beaches, diverse vegetation and dramatic landscapes, it is a stunningly attractive country. Lying off the southern tip of India, it was known t
Oh dear it's the Paralympics 2008-08-08 06:54:34 As the most glittering festival of disability sport approaches, I'm faced with my usual dilemma: to watch or not to watch? Victoria Brignell struggles with an antipathy towards sport...Oh dear, it's the Paralympics soon. Sorry, that's probably not the reaction you're expecting from me. But I'm afraid the Paralympics is not an event I look forward to with breathless anticipation. As the most gli
Sleeping 2008-09-08 11:19:27 'I dreamt that I saw Iain Duncan Smith riding on an ostrich through Parliament Square. Make of that what you will.' Victoria Brignell on insomnia and other matters...At the time of writing I am going through a bout of insomnia. Last night I lay in bed and watched the green numbers on my digital clock flick through the hours of the night at the same pace as a snail carrying a heavy bag of shoppin Read more:Sleeping
Wheelchairs I 2008-10-07 06:34:39 The perils of the electric wheelchair have left Victoria Brignell stranded on more than one occasion. Here she talks us the highs and lows of her different sets of wheels
During my university years I took great delight in confusing the shoppers of Cambridge. In those days I often used a battery-powered wheelchair which I controlled using a foot switch. When I went into the city centre, I could se
A sitting target 2008-11-10 09:03:09 It's estimated that 65 million people worldwide require a wheelchair but more than 20 million of them do not own one which can mean no school or participate fully in lfie
Contrary to what Hamlet claims, "to be or not to be" is not the question, as far as I'm concerned. The choice which has preoccupied me frequently during my life is - manual or electric? As I'm paralysed from the neck down, I c
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