Monthly Archive for May, 2011

From Stefany Anne Goldberg, The Smart Set

The 19th-century poet Laura Redden Searing, who happened to be Deaf, wrote a story about a lonely bird with crippled wings who comes upon the Realm of the Singing. This bird longs to sing like the birds living in the high branches of the Realm, but his crippled wings have also crippled his voice. The crippled bird, after much effort, does learn to sing. It’s a beautiful voice worthy of the birds in the high branches. He sings to the wretched of the Earth, who have gathered beneath his tree. In an act of redemption, the birds in the Realm of the Singing invite the crippled bird to join them up high. But he rejects them, choosing instead to inhabit the low branches as he always did, using his voice to cheer the wretched of the Earth. “Once I would have died to go,” the crippled bird exclaims, “now… I have found my kingdom and vocation. Both are down low.” Searing’s story could be the story of Deaf Americans from the 19th to 21st centuries, the story of people who were once seen as crippled, and who, finding their voices, chose to make music for each other.

In America, inspiring stories of individuals overcoming disabilities — economic, physical, metaphysical — are regularly sewn into the narrative quilt that is the inspiring tale of America itself. Perhaps the most familiar is that of Helen Keller, who could neither hear nor see. Like many Deaf people living in America before the modern age of Deaf culture, the young Keller lived an isolated existence. Some viewed her as little more capable than an animal — maybe less capable. The true story of how Helen Keller not only overcame her alienation by learning American Sign Language from Annie Sullivan — the “Miracle Worker” — but went on to become an American icon, is truly inspiring. It is specifically inspiring to hearing people because, to them, Keller’s tale is one of a disabled person who went on to succeed in mainstream America. Yet for most Deaf Americans, Helen Keller’s struggle wasn’t about overcoming a disability; she simply needed to learn the language of being Deaf. You see, for most Deaf Americans, being Deaf is not a handicap at all. It is not the inability to hear but rather, the ability to perceive life in a different way from hearing people. For many, it’s a blessing.

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From Monica Shores, Ms. Magazine

Most women have strong feelings about the sex industry, be they for or against. (And many, of course, remain undecided.) When dealing with such an emotionally volatile topic, it’s easy to inadvertently silence or even insult sex workers themselves. (As a participant in sex worker activism for the past four years, I’ve seen that in action and on the page.) There’s a way to debate commercial sex while respecting the industry’s laborers. Here are some suggestions:

1) Don’t diminish or mock sex workers’ agency. When discussing a person coerced or forced into sex work, a sensitive recognition of the violation they’ve suffered is definitely in order. However, it’s important to let individuals themselves make this distinction, rather than automatically assigning them a label that indicates lack of agency. For instance, referring to all sex workers as “prostituted” or “used” can be violating in and of itself if the person identifies their work as a free choice.

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