Disability Blog Carnival #79 is up NOW!

It's been up for a day or two already, but it's still fresh and worth a visit (or two, or ten). Check out the December edition at After Gadget, where the theme is "Disability and Occupy," and the entries are grouped to subthemes, like "Occupy Activists with Disabilities" and "Educating Occupies about Disability and Access Issues." (In case you think it might be all happy tales, there's also a section on "Exclusion and Alienation.") Also read through the comments for some additional entries. Carnivals that gather up links about current events are so valuable in shaping the ongoing conversation, and help bring attention to issues that might otherwise be dismissed as individual experiences. Thanks so much to Sharon at After Gadget for a fine edition.

Now to 2012! Would you like to host an edition of the Disability Blog Carnival in the new year? I'll take host offers in comments here; you'll also need to send me an email address or twitter handle so I can send you any reminders, schedule changes, or submissions. I'll keep a running calendar below, and fill it in as the slots are taken. If your name appears in the table below, consider that a lock--and start planning your edition!

JANUARY (#80): Emma at A Writer in a Wheelchair (theme: "words")
FEBRUARY (#81): Dave Hingsburger at Rolling Around in my Head (theme: "loving")
MARCH (#82): I'm Not My Disease (theme: "firsts")
[APRIL (#83): Disability.dreamwidth.org]  Not posted
[MAY (#84): Spaz Girl at Butterfly Dreams] Not posted
JUNE (#83): Never That Easy
JULY (#84): Caitlin at Stream of Caitlinness
AUGUST (#85): Stacie at Riley's Smile
SEPTEMBER (#86): Emma at A Writer in a Wheelchair
OCTOBER (#87): Dave Hingsburger at Rolling Around in my Head (theme: "birthdays")
NOVEMBER (#88):
DECEMBER (#89):

Wheels of life

Professor of Political Science in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute visited us at the CSIC last summer. We,-that is, Paco Guzmán, Mario Toboso and yours faithfully- had the opportunity to share knowledge about artifacts ideology, which is Langdon´s expertise related with disability. You can visit Langdon´s webpage at: http://homepages.rpi.edu/~winner/ And his blog at http://technopolis.blogspot.com/2011/12/from-disability-to-functional-diversity.html

Disability Blog Carnival #78 is up now!

Actually, it's been up for more than a week--but I just found it. My apologies to the host, the contributors, and all eager followers of the carnival. Anyway, Martha at Believe in Who You Are has the November edition, around the theme of inspiration (in all its complexity). Go have a visit, definitely some fine links worth checking out.

The December edition is scheduled to be hosted at After Gadget. Here's the very thorough and clear call for submissions, around the theme "Occupy!" Links are due December 26, for December 28 posting.

In January I'll start recruiting hosts for the 2012 editions, so watch for that if you've been anxious to host a round.

Halftime Handoff

Every week during halftime on Sunday Night Football, Toyota announces which sports-related non-profit organization is getting $10,000 in their weekly campaign to publicize such groups. Last Sunday, it was Shane's Inspiration's turn, and my son is in the 15-second video's opening scene (blond kid in the Convaid chair, on the right of the picture, next to the rollerslide):



[Video description: Children playing on an accessible playground, some visibly disabled, some not--they are sliding, climbing, rolling, and smiling--sunny afternoon, colorful autumn clothing]

[Audio transcript: "Thanks to your votes, Toyota is proud to donate $10,000 to Shane's Inspiration, a Southern California-based foundation that helps build playgrounds accessible to children with physical disabilities. Every week, visit facebook.com/toyota to vote for the next Toyota Halftime Handoff."]

Okay, 15-seconds of a corporate ad, probably not going to change the world. BUT--some of the folks watching football on Sunday night never thought about accessible playgrounds before. Now they've heard the phrase. Maybe one or two of those folks are on a town council or city planning board, and when they hear the phrase again, they'll associate it, subconsciously, with smiling children and a nice evening watching football. And maybe, just maybe, that means they vote yes on the proposed accessible swing in their neighborhood... not even knowing why.

(There's a two-minute version of the ad coming out next week, for the Toyota website and Facebook page and YouTube -- I'll post that here when it's available.)