For centuries, disabled individuals have been seen as weak, sickly, vulnerable, non-sexual beings that need to be taken care of. Whereas we are independent, feeling, intelligent creatures that have the same desires needs and wants as anyone else.
The media has pretty much shut out disabled people except for the usual geriatric wheelchair ads or to be seen as some pathetic needy type person, a freak, or the bitter disabled person.
This magazine is an outlet for the disabled person to express himself or herself with out having to be scrutinized and judged by what society deems as ‘beautiful’.
We are not people to be stared at or be pittied,we are humans with feelings.
Anastasia – owner of Disabled Living
Ask Anastasia Here you can ask advice,got questions?e-mail me at Anastasia
WATCH FOR SCAMS AND BULLIES
If you are a disabled person wanting to model,you need to be careful of scams and bullies. There are some good sites to model for but they are hard to find. This issue I will tell you of two modeling sites to joining at your own risk. First there is Rollmodelz. This site is mostly para models and the two owners are paras. I had tried to join their site but after weeks of waiting and emails jerking me around they said I can model if I paid them $300.
From: support@rollmodelz.info Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:12:38 -0700 Hey Viper, I'm sorry I didn't call you Monday. I simply forgot with everything else going on in my life. I talked with Madonna today and showed her your video and she agreed you could join the site. We need the $300 upfront to our site updated with you on it . Did I already send you a contract? Let me know. I will also call you if you like just tell me when is a good time and I'll put it in my calender so I don't forget again.
Looking forward to working with you, Amy
When I say I can’t afford that I get this.
RE: hope im not wasting my timeþ From: support@rollmodelz.info Sent: Wed 4/29/09 7:18 PM You have to find a way to raise the money if you want to be on the site.
So when I contacted so of the models on the site asking if they had to pay to join they said no. The owners found out I was asking around and they had a fit saying I was slandering them.
RE: heyþ From: support@rollmodelz.info Sent: Tue 5/05/09 7:40 PM
YOU said she was forcing you to do things you didn't want to do and you were thinking of quitting (read the email). Quit being a baby, it's time to be a big girl! You can't always get what you want and just because things didn't end up working out the way you wanted doesn't' mean you should through a fit! Even girls from GGW have emailed me to tell me what a baby you are being, ironic. Anyhow, keep up the blogging, makes for a good read (ya like i said some girls have told me about it and forwarded it to me) or a good slanderous laugh anyway.
RE: heyĂž From: support@rollmodelz.info Sent: Tue 5/05/09 1:26 PM
You said she was forcing you to things you didn't want to do, did you tell her you said that? AND YES I have it in an email you sent, funny how you forgot to post that in your blog. If I would of thought you were going to make more money I would of paid it immediately, but you know I had doubts about you selling anything. YOU said you were not selling on
GGW not me! So I was considering it, I felt bad for you, like i said good thing I saw the real you!
From: support@rollmodelz.info Subject: RE: hey Date: Sun, 3 May 2009 17:02:02 -0700
To think I almost paid the fees to put you up on the site? Then to my surprise I find you maliciously attaching our site? Have you EVER heard of one our models or customers unsatisfied? I didn't think so, we take care of all our models and customers. I am SOOOO GLAD I saw your true side before you came to work for me! Maybe I'll pass onto Bonnie the bad things you had to say about her, you should't be allowed on any site with how you have acted!
LOL scammed.......
And speaking of the mighty midget Bonnie aka kitten is on my list of people to be careful of.
Bonnie runs a porn site called gimps gone wild. I modeled on it for short time when it was not only porn,back then only a few did artistic nudes. Now it is outright porn,don’t let the sample photos fool you. Bonnie and I had a falling out because she took something I said on my facebook page as a personal attack. It was the week of valentines day,I’m not a big fan of that day,not because I’m not for love but because how some make it a mushy love fest. Why need a special day to show you love someone? Plus some tend to take that day so far that it is like putting salt in a wound to some. For some people that is the most lonely day of the year. They are not alone by choice,there are a lot of reasons someone are alone and I guess Bonnie and her live in boyfriend are to wrapped up in their love bubble to concider that not everyone is like them. What I had posted on MY facebook wall was if I see anything saying how much you love your honey pie,pookie,sweetie,snookums,baby,babeh,sugar to expect a snide remark.
Well Bonnie who had said “if you do not like my posts not to respond” jumps in posting a rant. I delete it and she keeps posting rants saying the world doesn’t revolve around me. I delete that too then her boyfriend jumps in saying it is my fault I’m alone. When I try to explain my feelings both defriend me and Bonnie deletes and bans me from all her yahoo groups. Now why would she do that over my personal opinion? I never directed it to her but she acts like it was a personal attack. Maybe she felt I called her out for posting mushy love notes every few days to her live in boyfriend. Ever notice even if you do not say names people show their guilt by griping the loudest? She is not the cool person she makes herself to be,she over reacts if you disagree with something she does,she is in her 40s and acts like shes 18 going out to bars dressed like a slut and drinking. 99% of her facebook photos are of her in bars or kissing her boyfriend. If you are thinking of modeling for gimps gone wild be careful.
Jerry Lewis Disease
I thought it was a joke when I saw the headline but sadly it was not. Jerry Lewis is being given a humanitarian award to thank him for the wholesale damage he's been doing to the disability community since I was able to understand what the word "pathetic" meant.
I learned that word from Mr. Lewis. I knew from how he said it that it must be a bad thing, but I didn't realize how bad it was, since I grew up in a Shriner's Hospital where that word simply did not exist and it certainly was not applied to people.
I came to realize he meant ME and everyone else like me, who through the FAULT OF SOCIETY lives with the reality of life without access to a place to work, education, voting stations, medical care and countless other things able bodied people take for granted.
When Mr. Lewis is asked about the almost universal revulsion toward him from the community he claims to care about, his responses are personal, hateful and horrifically outdated.
Pathetic. Half Human. Fag.
I truly did not understand the depth of hatred and disgust Mr. Lewis was spewing, especially since so many people were laughing, but now that I'm all grown up, I FULLY understand what Mr. Lewis means when he says people like me are "pathetic" and "half-human" living our lives "trapped" with no options, no ability to get a job, no prospects. The only thing that could make me LESS worthy of being alive in Mr. Lewis's mind is if I were homosexual. Then he could add the word "fag" to my list of flaws. Pathetic. Half Human. Fag.
Those are the words of a HUMANITARIAN?
Apparently so since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' has made the incomprehensible and unfathomable decision to give Jerry Lewis its Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Oscar Awards ceremony on February 22, 2009.
It's not all that surprising considering they rewarded Mr. Clint Eastwood for his disability snuff film Million Dollar Baby.
I have signed the petition to ask the Academy to NOT reward this throwback for the damage he does to the entire world when he denigrated ANYONE, especially those who are not able to defend themselves.
Sickening, sad, astounding, I could go on with the words to describe this decision, but it would take a whole day.
I think this is a shameful decision, made by people who do NOT know the reality of the situation and I think it is an INSULT to those who have already received the award to have to share the ignomity of being lumped in with this person.
It is also a disservice to Mr. Jean Hersholt and his memory and his good work to attach Mr. Lewis's INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF HATRED AND DISTRESS to his name.
Who gets one next? Mengele for Medicine? How about Hitler? Maybe Mussolini for the advancement of Freedom?
Shameful.
Pet Peeve Written by someone else but I agree fully
One of my biggest pet peeves is personal questions from strangers. Strangers who stop you in public, demand answers to the most intrusive, rude questions and actually stand there and expect an answer Hi hun, what happened to your legs?
It's not really the actual questions that bother me; it's the expectation of a response - the absolute certainty that I will tell this person whom I've never met the personal details of my disability, simply because they asked.
You can tell by their tone of voice and their stance that the thought of their actions being rude never even crosses their minds. Sometimes, they'll even try to entice me into telling by
commiserating with me... "I know what it's like, I had to use one of them things for two days back in 79¨... uh huh.
But they truly expect an answer and then they're offended when I don't comply. Why? Because they don't see me as an equal and a person deserving of courtesy, that's why. In fact, I don't think they see me as a person at all, but just as "disabled".
I'm not referring to children who point at my chair and ask what it is, or even adults who come up and ask an informed question like the brand name of my chair, for example. Those I answer, no problem.
Now I do know a few people with disabilities who don't mind being asked intimate questions in public and offer an answer. To them it's about educating people... offering a lesson of sorts. And I totally agree with that. It is about teaching a lesson, but which lesson is where we differ.
I think most people already know that seatbelts save lives, and drinking and driving don't mix, and that diving into the shallow
end of a pool is dangerous. They shouldn't need me to prove to their kids that real life happens and people get injured. To view us as a resource without feelings and without boundaries, to be used to teach their kids a life lesson, is wrong.
It's my opinion that others' rudeness should not be rewarded with common courtesy on my part. Invading my privacy for no other reason than to satisfy idle curiosity is not permissible.
Would these same inquiring minds ask an overweight person: "Hey, why are you so fat?" Would they ask a bald guy: Where's your hair? Would they ask a woman they don't know: Are those real? Or how about "Hey baby, does the carpet match the drapes?" Of course not. But asking personal things along those same lines to someone with a disability is ok? In my opinion, no it's not! My strategy? Ignore them. No answers, no reward for rudeness. Just a simple life lesson, courtesy of me.
When a stranger asks me a personal question, I respond with "Why do you want to know?" and then with "oh" whatever their answer may be. Then I turn away. It's rude to ask personal questions of anyone you don't know including people with disabilities. To answer them would be to accept their
placement of me and other people with disabilities on the lower rungs of the social ladder. I'll decide where my place is, thank you. Call me rude but my personal business is none of theirs.
Wheel housewives
Chair-bound stunners try breaking into showbiz
By SEAN DALY
So, this is how reality TV rolls.
The newest stars of unscripted television are four gorgeous, part-time models — who happen to be wheelchair-bound.
“Push Girls” — set to debut in April — follows the now-familiar mold of “Real Housewives” and “The Real World”: a fly-on-thewall look at the lives, loves and personal struggles of four friends in Hollywood.
The twist is that they are all the victims of car accidents or physical ailments that left them without the use of their beautiful legs.
“Push Girls” is being produced for the Sundance Channel by Gay Rosenthal, who created the reality hit “Little People, Big World,” about an Oregon farming family in which the parents and one of the sons are little people, but the other children are average-sized. “I am always trying to forge new frontiers,” Rosenthal tells The Post.
“I started developing this show as soon as I met the girls [about two years ago]. I absolutely believe that ‘Little People’ helped carve the way. I sold that show seven years ago. Now little people are so accepted.”
But, she admits, “There definitely were some [networks] who didn’t know what to do with” her latest offering.
“I think the common denominator with us is our wheelchairs,” says cast member, Angela Rockwood, 36. “But it’s not about
the wheelchair. It’s about our spirit, and how we just live life to the fullest.”
The “Push Girls” are:
* Tiphany Adams, 28, the lone survivor of a drunk-driving crash her senior year of high school.
“Most people would want to give up,” she told The Post. “But all four of us girls chose to triumph over the tragedy.”
* Auti Angel, a former hip-hop dancer, who had landed a major record deal just before severing her spinal cord in a 1992 car wreck. At 42, Angel is struggling to become pregnant and start a family. Angel — who danced on stage with Milli Vanilli the night they won their Grammy in 1990 — may turn out to be the show’s breakout star.
In the years after her accident, she became addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine, and was jailed after leading LA police on a high-speed chase.
“I was the first woman in a wheelchair incarcerated at Twin Towers County Jail,” she told a Web site for disabled people a few years ago.
“They didn’t know what to do with me so they put me in the infirmary with women who were mentally ill.”
* Mia Schaikewitz, a former competitive swimmer, who lost the use of her legs due to a rare cardiovascular malformation.
* Angela Rockwood, an actress who appeared in “The Fast and the Furious” before her 2001 auto accident. Rockwood, 36, is still dealing with the end of her 10-year marriage to actor Dustin Nguyen. “I’m a quadriplegic, so I need more assistance than the other girls,” she says.
“I need someone to come in and catheterize me. I need someone to bathe me. I need someone to lotion me up . . . This is my reality, and it was important that the show capture that.
News Flash: People With Disabilities Have Sex Kaleigh Trace. Sex Educator Listen. This may shock you. But you should know: People in wheelchairs -- they have sex. People with different motor abilities -- they have sex too. People who are blind -- they're doing it as well. Everybody's doing it. There is a persistent and damaging myth that people with disabilities don't have sex. It is too often believed that if you don't move your legs than you don't orgasm, or if you don't move your arms than you can't make someone else come all over you. It's all a giant lie, I swear. This lie is rooted in ableism. Ableism is the oppression of persons with disabilities. It is the assumption that being ablebodied is the norm, and that people who fall outside of this norm are lesser than: less intelligent, less desirable, and generally less valuable human beings on the whole. This belief arises out of the traditionally held medical model of disability, which posits disability as a tragic medical condition that needs to be cured. This theory does not allow room to consider the ways in which disability is an identity that is socially constructed, which is to say that the world that we live in creates systemic barriers for folks who are different. To
instead consider disability as a social construct is to say that rather than "curing" disability, we should instead consider how systems, structures, institutions, and entire modes of belief disallow some types of people and some types of bodies from being humanized. And what this looks like, to name just a few of the thousands of examples of ableism, is folks with disabilities not having access to public spaces; folks with disabilities not being spoken to directly; and folks with disabilities being misconstrued as asexual, as not even having sexual desires let alone being considered super hot sex bombs. This lie, this desexualisation of people with disabilities, may be rooted in ableism, but is then perpetuated by mainstream ideas about sex. We see sex all the time. It is everywhere, either sizzling under the surface or hot branded on the top of every single thing we consume from music videos to Burger King Ads. But, only a certain kind of sexuality is portrayed in this everpresent visual come on. Specifically, it's the sex of skinny people, of straight people, of white people, and of able-bodied people. Mainstream sexual imagery never shows fat people, trans people, or people who are disabled. So, misconceptions about human sexuality are really screwing shit up for all sorts of people, but pair that with ableism and
you can see that things are made especially difficult for folks with disabilities. Can you even imagine what it's like to be totally dehumanized and desexualized? Can you imagine what it's like to not have your hot self be seen and be celebrated in all your glory? Now that's a tragedy. Deconstructing this lie is beneficial for all people, not just those of us who identify as living with a disability. It is to your benefit to recognize the hotness of all sorts of bodies because doing so is going to make your sex life better (you could wildly expand your category of potential partners). It is important because you too may one day find yourself living with a disability, if you aren't already. And it is important because in deconstructing our ideas about human sexuality and about disability, and about sexuality and disability combined, we are working to deconstruct oppressive belief systems that limit all sorts of humans from accessing their right to safety, to dignity, and to pleasure.