RuthMadison, Author at Ruth Madison

Mad Men

This is another show that I haven’t actually watched. Well, I watched the first four episodes and it didn’t grab me. I just found it depressing and not very interesting, but I seem to be alone in that. Last week in my class the teacher (for reasons that are not entirely clear to me) showed a YouTube clip of an office party in Mad Men where someone gets his foot run over by a lawnmower. The teacher said that because of this injury, the character’s foot is amputated and his career is over. Seriously? I can’t blame the writing of the show for this one if that is accurate to early 1960s in America. It depresses me to think that it is accurate. Tell me why losing a foot would stop your career in writing ad copy. Anyone? Anyone have a...

Posted by RuthMadison on Apr 4, 2011 in Movies | 4 comments

How to Talk to a Person in a Wheelchair

Am I an expert in this topic? Hell no. But from my little bit of observation I have some pointers for those who freak out at the thought of having a conversation with a person sitting in a wheelchair. It’s not hard. They aren’t aliens. 1) Don’t panic. The more you worry over saying the wrong thing, the more likely you are to sound stupid. 2) Before you say anything, think of or look at an able-bodied person of the same gender and imagine saying whatever it is you plan to say to that person. Would you ask that person if his sex organs worked? Would you tell her that her ability to get out of bed and go to a restaurant is an inspiration? Would you ask him to recount the most emotionally difficult day of his life? No? Then don’t say...

Posted by RuthMadison on Apr 1, 2011 in Disability Rights | 4 comments

Dexter

This is another show I only just started watching. I’m on episode five. I watched it last night at a friend’s house and as it came time to interview a kidnap victim who had had one foot and one hand chopped off, my friend said, “Oh, you’re going to hate this next part.” Do my friends know me or what? He was right. I was quite irritated when this man said that probably a woman would never even look at him again. In support of this idea, one of the main characters buys him a hooker. Seriously? Once he puts on the prostheses that the hospital was donating to him it would be hard for anyone to even notice he was missing anything. But even going beyond that, there are people with much more noticeable and debilitating disabilities...

Posted by RuthMadison on Mar 30, 2011 in Movies, Sexuality | 2 comments

Review, part two

This review is from: The Night, They Say, Was Made for Love: Plus My Sexual Scrapbook (Paperback) “Great and humerous read!!! John Callahan is a very talented man who has never let his disability get in his way.” What exactly does his disability have to do with this? What would it get in the way of? Being talented? Drawing cartoons? Writing a book? I think his disability is irrelevant in this context, am I wrong about that? This review just sounds patronizing to me. Being patronized for writing a book by someone who can’t spell, I hope Callahan got a laugh from...

Posted by RuthMadison on Mar 28, 2011 in Disability Rights | 0 comments

In Praise of Wheelchairs

“…at 23yrs old I thought falling over daily was ‘normal’. Now I have my wheels I can go shopping, socialise, dance, sail, even do some basic chores on a good day. All things that without my wheels would be simply: Impossible. I walk where I can and I wheel where I can’t. My wheels quite literally gave me back my life. My independance. My sparkle.” http://stickmancommunications.blogspot.com/2011/03/international-wheelchair-day.html Love this article! Check it out. I can’t believe I missed “International Wheelchair...

Posted by RuthMadison on Mar 28, 2011 in Disability Rights | 0 comments