Oh, OK. A taste:
So, if someone says “this television show is lame” and you turn the sentence into “this television show has difficulty walking,” it doesn’t really make sense, right? Just like when you say “this social activity which I am being forced to do by my parent is a homosexual man,” it doesn’t really make sense. And this should tell you something. It should tell you that the word you are using has an inherently pejorative meaning.
2 comments:
I am currently arguing w/them over their blogroll, which is exclusively under-50 in age. (Also, all bloggers are under 50.) I flipped out when I saw it, I'm afraid. (Has no one heard ONE WORD I've been saying for two years?)
They assured me this is an accident, but seem in no hurry to correct it. So, I offered myself. Ha! I guess that's considered "rude" or pushy or something. (Us rednecks never did understand that shit.) When I asked why certain bloggers were included who never write about disability, but I wasn't? No answer. (Rather, I guess that IS the answer.) I also suggested my blogroll, chock full of older women bloggers.
Admittedly, I got pretty argumentative... but I got a very strange reply (written by committee, perhaps?), telling me I was ableist for mentioning my own arthritis. Huh? (Still scratching my head over that one.) You might say we got off on the wrong foot, as we say in these parts.
I am finally getting it, that they just don't want to be bothered with us. They come onto the net to get away from mom, and they don't want to be reminded that mom might be HERE TOO.
Okay, but someday, they WILL inevitably feel the pain of what they have done, when they are excluded on account of age (while everyone denies that's the reason)... I have always believed age and disability are intricately connected (witness the oft-used phrase "temporarily able-bodied") --but apparently not on that blog.
I WAS livid, now I am just tired. Again. Still. As one of my favorite modern-day philosophers once said, meet the new boss, same as the old boss...
WHAT is the ongoing problem with ageism? Why this huge reluctance to admit that's what it IS?
(sigh)
At least I know some day they WILL get it. (But it seems they would want to improve things before it happens to them...? Gah!)
Thinking of giving up. I think it about it a lot, actually. Then I just remember my grandmother saying, that's exactly what they want you to do: go away. So, don't.
Her name was Daisy and I named my blog after her for a reason! :D
I agree, good articles at the blog. And I certainly wish we could be included!
I like your grandmother.
I am really sorry to hear that our years are a problem there. As a Cold War child, I probably didn't expect (then) to see 60, but what's their excuse?
Age in and of itself is not a disability, but it does mean that the systems are less flexible and more prone to deterioration and damage tends to be cumulative, so it is more likely that one will be disabled. (Certainly my mom was a regular bear for exercise into her seventies, but grandma's (and probably great-grandma's) arthritis with a couple of medical things and the development of the current chronic condition mean that these days, she uses a cane and/or a walker and cannot walk more than maybe half a block on a good day.)
I suspect the problem with ageism is two-fold, somewhat like invincibility syndrome in the young: a) That they will never get there and none of that will happen; and b) That that aging stuff is SCARY and can best be addressed by denial.
I went through most of the postings (they've only been on for about a week! Yipe!) looking for your comments (found one) and ran across a piece illustrating how difficult inclusivity is. Because there will always be something one hasn't thought of.
I hope you can do a guest post or something (Mom doesn't blog. Yet. Though she's learning to text. Gateway activity!)!
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