I know that I need to update about where I've been the last couple of weeks, and I will, but there's something I would normally give three seconds of thought too that has been sitting with me. I find it cringe-worthy to be about to write more about this person, but I am feeling the need. As those of you who keep an eye on entertainment news already know, Kanye West had a concert recently. For those of you who don't already know to what I am referring, at this concert, Kanye demanded that every single person in the audience get on his or her feet. (Already obnoxious... these concert-goers are basically paying his salary, they should be able to sit or stand as they please). He then stopped his show entirely because he saw two people in the audience who remained sitting. It turns out that both of those two people were handicapped and that is why they did not stand. One person had a prosthetic leg and the other was confined to a wheelchair. Kanye then had his security go VERIFY with the person in the wheelchair that the person had proof of disability. First, I don't even know what that is. A wheelchair seems like pretty good proof to me. Second, he has already embarrassed these two people who paid money to go to his concert. And third, and this is what gets me, what would Kanye have done if there was someone there who had a disability or handicap or injury that WASN'T readily apparent to the eye? What if someone was in the early stages of pregnancy and feeling dizzy? Or recovering from knee surgery but off of crutches? What if this was a hemophiliac who didn't want to get too jostled by the crowd? Or, because this blog is all about me, had endometriosis. It didn't click with me how absurd this stunt was until I thought about if I had been in attendance at that concert.
Showing posts with label Invisible Disability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Invisible Disability. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Kanye West: IT IS NOT OKAY
I know that I need to update about where I've been the last couple of weeks, and I will, but there's something I would normally give three seconds of thought too that has been sitting with me. I find it cringe-worthy to be about to write more about this person, but I am feeling the need. As those of you who keep an eye on entertainment news already know, Kanye West had a concert recently. For those of you who don't already know to what I am referring, at this concert, Kanye demanded that every single person in the audience get on his or her feet. (Already obnoxious... these concert-goers are basically paying his salary, they should be able to sit or stand as they please). He then stopped his show entirely because he saw two people in the audience who remained sitting. It turns out that both of those two people were handicapped and that is why they did not stand. One person had a prosthetic leg and the other was confined to a wheelchair. Kanye then had his security go VERIFY with the person in the wheelchair that the person had proof of disability. First, I don't even know what that is. A wheelchair seems like pretty good proof to me. Second, he has already embarrassed these two people who paid money to go to his concert. And third, and this is what gets me, what would Kanye have done if there was someone there who had a disability or handicap or injury that WASN'T readily apparent to the eye? What if someone was in the early stages of pregnancy and feeling dizzy? Or recovering from knee surgery but off of crutches? What if this was a hemophiliac who didn't want to get too jostled by the crowd? Or, because this blog is all about me, had endometriosis. It didn't click with me how absurd this stunt was until I thought about if I had been in attendance at that concert.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Invisible Illness
I have recently begun to think a lot about a term I've heard: Invisible Illness. These are chronic illnesses (Endometriosis, Lupus, MS, many others) that are not apparent upon first glance, or upon just looking at a person. Wikipedia has an entry for "invisible disability" which you can look at but wasn't worded well enough for my liking. I acknowledge that there are many of these illnesses world-wide and I support people becoming more familiar with them and raising awareness about them, but this is my blog so I'm going to keep this post confined to endometriosis.
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