Opinion and Reactions

Ukraine

Discrimination against people with disabilities is one example of how Russia operates outside rule of law (2022, Canada's National Observer: News & Analysis) Sure, I guess, I wonder what it is an example of when other countries do it though.

Sarah Phillips has been researching with disabled people in the Ukraine for around 20 yeras. Refusal to Die is an essay revisiting the current situation of those she knows.

"Back in his Kyiv hotel, Dmitrii keeps his good humor. He sends me jokes and memes on Telegram. He claims he’s glad he got stranded with the other hotel guests, who rely on his cool head and jokes to get through each day. He won’t answer my questions about his supplies of food and medicines. Dmitrii has survived everything else: Can he survive a war? I hope he will keep up his streak and refuse to die." (2022, Cultural Anthropology)

In war disabled people cannot be left behind. Quotes a Paralympian saying in 2016, "Ukraine has already won 37 medals in the Paralympics, 12 of them are gold… We have more medals than wheelchair ramps in an average Ukrainian town." (2022, The Once and Future Cripple)

Q&A with Ilya Kaminsky, Ukrainian-American poet a beautiful wide-ranging issues that touches on Deaf Gain and its contribution to the larger world.

"We must remember that even in the most difficult situations, people are still able to retain their humanity. They fall in love, they marry, and they have children. We must honor that too, and not just speak of the darkness of war. We must honor human survival, because if we don’t do this, if we don’t pay attention to every aspect, we dehumanize the suffering." (2022, Daily Princetonian)