Global Crisis

 Featuring more power and enhanced luxury inside and out, the Audi A8 L 4.0T Sport model enters the Audi lineup for 2016. The variant of the Audi A8 flagship sedan boasts an enhanced 4.0T twin turbo V8 engine achieving an impressive 450 hp, an increase of 15 hp from the previous...

  Foggy mornings are much more common as we head into the autumn months and the reasons are quite simple. The nights are getting longer and longer which allows the temperatures to fall to the dew point. As the air cools, it cannot hold as much water vapor so the water vapor...

When police shoot someone in a mental health crisis armed with - a knife, a knife, a knife, a knife, a hammer, a screwdriver, a broom handle, or a rock or any number of other weapons that are not firearms - the question arises: What could they have done differently? The officers in such case generally, and understandably, reply by saying...

Ever since watching the terrible video of a student being pulled from her desk and thrown to the ground, I've been waiting to learn how disability intersected with this case. I assumed it would, because the data shows that the two groups most vulnerable to violence at the hands of...

Here's a disturbing and complex manifestation of the cult of compliance: Starting next week, San Francisco will be the fifth county in the state to implement Laura’s Law, the measure that allows judges to force severely mentally ill people to get treatment.The measure is targeted toward people who are resisting care and have a history of hospitalization,...

Rose Eveleth has become one of my favorite writers on technology. Lately, she's been  focusing specifically on prosthetics. It's an area that technology is rapidly transforming. It's great to have deeply thoughtful journalists reporting on both the science and the social implications.In this blog post, she reflects on what she's learned on her...

Peter Singer came to town to talk about altruism for a humanities festival. Local disability activists (sadly not including me), picketed the event, and the Daily Northwestern covered it. In their interview with Singer, he revealed something new to me.Singer's extreme utilitarian views has led him to argue many things with which I disagree (i.e....

We cannot say: The best pedagogy is handwriting because science, if that "best pedagogy" excludes so many people with disabilities. #ableism— David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) October 26, 2015 We must say: Let's figure out what it is about handwriting (means) that produces good learning (ends) and universalize those ends. #pedagogy— David M. Perry (@Lollardfish)...

BMW CEO Krueger revealed plans to increase the i3's range in 2016It's no secret that if BMW wants the i3 to continue to remain relevant they will eventually have to increase its all electric range. In fact, in about a year there will be no less than two electric vehicles available...

In April 2014, Sesame Street announced a partnership with Autism Speaks. Autistic indivduals and their allies quickly organized to push Sesame Street to do better, and not listen solely to a group dedicated to perpetuating the worst stereotypes about autism.The results are pretty good. From an LA Times article on the process:Children with autism vary...

Pay attention to South Africa and the #FeesMustFall movement, where students are protesting higher education costs and are being met with state violence. I've been watching the hashtag (and some related ones). The attempt to raise fees is broadly seen as a movement to exclude poor black students from higher education.Here's a BBC article, but Twitter...

One of my regular twitter correspondents reached out to me recently to discuss his plans for a low-sensory-input planetarium show. He already had all the good ideas, but we chatted and confirmed that this would work, and I'm thrilled he's moved forward with the plan.Here's the announcement. We're planning to go!We wanted to host a special event before...

I'm giving a public lecture tonight, October 20, at Lewis University on disability and diversity in honor of the 25th anniversary of the ADA.I'll also be a panelist at a workshop on disability and journalism on November 2-3, via Access Living and Poynt...

Kim Nielsen, professor of disability studies at the University of Toledo, has a new blog post up at the Beacon Broadside (note: from Beacon Press, also my publisher) announcing their undergraduate major in disability studies. It's the first such major in the country.“I’ve never been this excited about my education before,” my student said...

My thesis - We cannot arm our way to less gun violence.Unfortunately, in Wisconsin, the GOP legislature will likely try to do just that, by allowing guns on college campuses. Because if you are in thrall to the NRA, there are literally no other ideas to try.Read Chuck Rybak's moving essay on the disturbing details. Rybak feels powerless, but he's not...

Next Tuesday I will speaking about disability and diversity at Lewis University. Details here. Open to the public.Last week I went to Toledo to talk about public writing with other academics, then gave a talk on why police kill people with disabilities. Grateful to my hosts and everyone who came.I was also on NPR's Here and Now this week, talking...

 Green Car Journal has announced its five finalists for the magazine’s prestigious 2016 Green Car of the Year® award. The 2016 models include the Audi A3 e-tron, Chevrolet Volt, Honda Civic, Hyundai Sonata, and Toyota Prius. An increasing number of vehicle models are considered...

I am very excited to be going to the University of Toledo tomorrow to offer a talk: Why do police kill people with disabilities?Are you in the area? It's a public lecture this Friday, 10/16. Details: Memorial Field House, Room 1030, 2:00.Description: A third to a half of all people...

Disability continues to be a largely ignored issue in the presidential primaries except for when it comes to gun violence, when the candidates get things entirely wrong. Here's 100% of what Sanders or Clinton (the only candidates that actually might get nominated) said about disability last night.SANDERS: Let's begin, Anderson, by understanding that...

Laura Michele Diener is an associate professor of history at Marshall. She works on medieval textile history, and I first met her when she gave a terrific presentation on using textile creation in the classroom. Recently, though, I've become aware of her public writing on contemporary issues.One of my theories about academics turning to public writing...

This is a video of a school cop grabbing an African-American teenager by the throat for, it appears, trying to walk away. There had been a fight, the officer was telling him something, and the boy was trying to leave.Unless the boy was making some kind of threat, which no one has claimed he has, there's no justification other than raw assertion of...

A year ago I published an essay on Columbus Day for CNN - What do you tell your kids about Columbus?In October 2013, my daughter came home from school excited about Christopher Columbus. He had come to visit her class! During his visit, he told the children that he had figured out the world was round and then bravely led his crew to discover America....

I have a new piece up at Al Jazeera America this morning on Autism Speaks.Autism Speaks is the mega-charity of the autism world. Founded in 2005, it has an annual budget of $60 million, is known for its ubiquitous awareness walks and has a handsome array of celebrity backers. In some quarters of the disability rights movement, however, it has...

Bruce Holsinger is a medieval literary scholar, a novelist, a public intellectual, and a friend. Here's my review of his novels, political thrillers set in medieval London, with John Gower as the protagonist. You should read them.Holsinger has a piece in the New York Times today on Fiorina, extending the conversation about her regular invocation...