Posts from ‘September, 2009’

Listening (Again) to a Blind Reader’s Literacy

Sep 22nd, 2009

I received a request recently from David Shields asking to clear copyright to quote from one of my early essays on literacy and disability. He plans to quote one sentence about list-making and the advent of literacy in his forthcoming book, Reality Hunger: A Manifesto. The sentence is actually a summary statement of ideas in [...]

The French Theorist Meme

Sep 10th, 2009

by Mark Willis.

1 comment

In the introduction to Free Culture, Lawrence Lessig makes this caveat about the scope and style of his project:
My method is not the usual method of an academic. I don’t want to plunge you into a complex argument, buttressed with references to obscure French theorists— however natural that is for the weird sort we academics [...]

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Shape-Shifters

Re-imagining accessibility through the transformations of culture -- particularly the transformative promise of accessible technology for people with disabilities -- is the work of the Fair Use Lab. What does Shepard Fairey’s Hope poster have to do with accessibility? Read more: Shape-Shifters in the Fair Use Lab [MiT6 2009]
Blind Photographers

In the moment when Paul Strand photographed her surreptitiously on the street in New York, the social engineers who created a system for licensing beggars never imagined that a blind woman had culture or could make culture. She herself may not have imagined it. Paul Strand probably didn’t give her much credit for making culture, either. Read more: Curiosity & The Blind Photographer [MiT5 2007] See more on blind photographers.
Remix: Danger Mouse

Will DJ Danger Mouse become the Che Guevara of digital sampling? Consider the case for fair use made by The Grey Album.
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ADA 20th Anniversary

On its 20th anniversary, pundits will debate what the Americans with Disabilities Act has accomplished. I still believe what I said in a TV interview after the ADA signing ceremony in 1990. “The ADA will not end disability discrimination overnight. But in a nation governed by the rule of law, getting it in writing is the place to start.” So what is the ADA's legacy? A Generation of Problem-Solvers.
Disability As Praxis

I am a parent, homeowner, knowledge worker, and person with disabilities. Oppression is not my true word, but praxis is. In Paulo Freire’s transformative work, I find an affirmation deeper than ideology or political activism -- an affirmation of the dynamic role of disability in culture. I believe the daily praxis of making adaptations and negotiating accommodations represents a significant form of cultural production. Read Disability As Praxis.
a blind flaneur

Posts from ‘September, 2009’

Listening (Again) to a Blind Reader’s Literacy

The French Theorist Meme

Shape-Shifters

Blind Photographers

Remix: Danger Mouse

Archives

Categories

Subscribe to Podcast

ADA 20th Anniversary

Disability As Praxis

a blind flaneur