The Cerebral Palsy Alliance of Australia (nee Spastic Centre) certainly seems to think so:

I’m speechless, really. Philip Patston sums it up well, though:

Instead of saying “disabled kids need your help because bureaucracy is inefficient and you might as well make a donation and make your tax dollar go somewhere useful,” some half baked advertising exec has come up with a heart-wrenching diatribe of worrisome, fearful, world-shattering, devastating, agonising testimony from weary parents.

What do you think?

The BBC is reporting that Emirates’ incompetencies left 35 disabled passengers stranded at Dubai International Airport after competing at the IPC in Christchurch over the weekend. It seems like 35 wheelchair users was, well, 35 too many for Emirates!

But it was a quote by British Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson that caught my eye the most, when describing having to be transported by the airport’s one ‘transport’ wheelchair:

“You’re in a chair that’s not your own.

“It’s like being asked to wear someone else’s clothes. That’s what it’s like sitting in another person’s wheelchair.”

I thought it quite aptly encapsulated a feeling I get every time I’m in a similar situation. Interesting.

Anyway, read the full story here if you like.

I was eating brunch at a cafe this morning, and about 10 minutes after I’d settled in, another wheelchair user came through the door. “Huh!”, I thought, noting the relative rarity of this situation. Still, cool.

As we left, the other wheelchair user left the cafe right behind me. As she wheeled away, my Uncle remarked, “It’s wheelchair central out here!”. Now, make what you will of that comment, but it just hit me how strange it was that two wheelchairs in one location was notable, even remarkable. If “wheelchair central” is defined by two wheelchairs, I wonder what you’d call 3 or more? A stampede?!

I guess my point is, it would be nice if 2011 was a year where seeing more than one wheelchair in one place became a regular occurrence, or at least not as noteworthy.

Did you know – at Rhythm & Vines 2010, I was the only wheelchair user there? The only one. Out of 25,000 people. Come on team – let’s get out there and prove we exist!

So I stumbled upon this great blog post by WildKat, entitled 5 Things You Shouldn’t Do When Interacting With a Wheelchair User. It’s a great read, and two of her points in particular rang true for me. So I’ve decided to steal those two and add three more of my own.

Behold: 5 Things You Shouldn’t Do When Hanging With a Wheelchair User

Look, I’m really not sure what to think about the TVC you’ll see below.

I just really resent any primetime imagery (and it was played in primetime) depicting wheelchair users “longing to walk again”. I understand that some would love to return to their lives pre-accident. But as someone that is hugely proud of his contribution to the world’s levels of diversity, and is grateful for the perspective on the world that being a wheelchair user has brought him, watching ads like this makes me cringe.

Like Philip Patston said, “it sets the disability rights movement back 20 years”.

[UPDATE]: Oh yeah, and the music makes me want to throw up.

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Take 300 young people aged 18 to 25 from 98 countries committed to creating social change in their respective communities, bring them together in Delhi, India for eight days, and what do you get? An amazing mix of colours, cultures, incredible diversity, and the Oxfam International Youth Partnerships Kaleidoscope Conference 2010. From November 21-29, I was one of the very fortunate 300 young people to take part in this amazing, once-in-a-lifetime event in a place I have always wanted to

The NZ Police have today announced a new text message service for deaf people who wish to report an emergency. It never really occurred to me before that members of the deaf community may struggle to report an emergency if they have to use a telephone to do so. Anyway, I think this is great news. Click ‘read more’ for the full news release!

Hi guys. Red asked me to write a guest post on my experience of the recent Canterbury earthquake as there hasn’t been much said from a disability perspective, so I jumped (and jolted) at the opportunity. Enjoy and feel free to comment. – Photo courteously of Stuff. I’m usually quite a big fan of shakes; milkshakes, handshakes, even the odd booty shake. But violent, earth-moving, over-seven-on-the-Richter-scale shakes? Not so much. Yet, that’s exactly what I awoke to at 4.35AM last

This will be the last time I talk about the U2 wheelchair ticket saga, I promise! But if you missed the story on Campbell Live last week, or just want to watch it again, you can check it out by clicking the link below. Enjoy!

Wheelchair user charged more for U2 tickets – Campbell Live – Video – 3 News

This is just so exciting. A group of young people from the UK are organising a beauty pageant for people with disabilities called “Disabled and Sexy”, and I’m not gonna lie – these girls look hot! The pageant is supporting a great cause too, the Jennifer Trust for Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

I find it so so frustrating that disabled people are often seen as asexual beings, thanks in part to the media’s tragic portrayal of us the eternal sufferer. So I’m raising my glass to this lot – I’d love to do something similar down under!

Check out their website for more information.