Author: Robin
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A Small Step Forward for Blind Parents
I wrote a while back about the multi-layered and inexcusable discrimination many disabled parents face. There’s nothing about having a disability that makes someone less capable of parenting. That feels too obvious to even say, but it’s a truth, obvious or not, that needs to be repeated over and over until people get it, until…
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Conversation: Stigma, Sexuality, Disability
Last week I had the privilege of being on a panel about stigma, sexuality, and disability with Andrew Gurza and the cohosts of The Pulse. We managed to squish a lively discussion of flirting, dating, stigma, self-disclosure, and loads more juicy stuff into a 35-minute radio segment. The best part is that the show was…
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Direct Support Meets LGBTQ+ Folks With Disabilities
A week ago I snuck into the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals Webinar on supporting people with intellectual disability who are lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, or something else under the label of LGBTQ+. It felt like sneaking because I don’t work with folks with intellectual or developmental disability, directly or otherwise, but, actually,…
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Disabled People, harassment, and Public Spaces
(Originally published on another blog in 2014. My writing voice has changed a lot since then, but I still agree with everything I said here! I have a lot more to say on disability and harassment, and am reposting this older piece here to get the conversation started.) *** Every time I leave my house…
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We’re All Normal, And Other Sexy Scientific Facts
We’re all normal. let me repeat that, we’re all normal. Our bodies are normal. Our relationships are normal. Our sexual desires are normal. Our sex lives are normal. Note: This only applies if you don’t use sex as a weapon. If you do,stop…just stop. * Emily Nagoski is the Wellness Education Director at Smith College.…
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The Erasure of Sexuality in the Health Care System
When was the last time you felt comfortable asking about your sexual health, or mentioning your sexual relationship, at the doctor’s office? Sexuality is always a potential part of healthcare – we don’t usually leave our feelings, our relationships, our reproductive choices or experiences, and all the other pieces that can be part of our…
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Sexuality, Relationships, and Neurodiversity
I was excited to see Noah Eidelman’s workshop Neurodivergent & Naughty: Sex and Sexuality for folks on and around “the spectrum” on the schedule at the 38th annual Guelph Sexuality Conference., where I spent a fun, exhilarating, exhausting couple of days in June. Collectively, our conversations about sexuality and disability are still revolving mostly around…
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Parenting and Disability: We need to keep talking about it.
Disabled folks often get conflicting messages about what people think we can do. ON one hand, we’re seen as superhuman – as supercrips of the highest order – or as childlike and incapable – or worse, less than human. I recently wrote about the emerging voices of disabled parents (including the voices that aren’t being…