The Best of Disability Blogs and Banter[fusion_content_boxes settings_lvl=”child” layout=”icon-with-title” columns=”1″ icon_align=”left” title_size=”14px” title_color=”#842f1e” body_color=”#000000″ backgroundcolor=”” icon_circle=”” icon_circle_radius=”” iconcolor=”” circlecolor=”” circlebordercolor=”” circlebordersize=”” outercirclebordercolor=”” outercirclebordersize=”” icon_size=”” icon_hover_type=”none” hover_accent_color=”#84241e” link_type=”” link_area=”” link_target=”” animation_delay=”” animation_offset=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.1″ margin_top=”2px” margin_bottom=”2px” class=”” id=””][fusion_content_box title=”Pushliving.com Response to Cosmopolitian’s Dating Advice” icon=”” backgroundcolor=”” iconcolor=”” circlecolor=”” circlebordercolor=”” circlebordersize=”” outercirclebordercolor=”” outercirclebordersize=”” iconrotate=”” iconspin=”no” image=”” image_width=”35″ image_height=”35″ link=”” linktext=”” link_target=”_self” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=””]Although Pushliving.com gave the women’s magazine Cosmopolitan props for publishing an article with advice on dating women who use wheelchairs, they had a few suggestions for next time.

Most jarringly, the mag used stock imagery of obviously nondisabled women in hospital-style chairs. Pushliving collected a few responses to that blooper:

Kristy Goosman Hughes: My first impression was, what a stupid picture!”

Kara Ayers: Ouch … this literally hurts to see. What year is it!?

Tim Cox: HAHAHAHAHA! this might be my favorite picture ever.

James Shoemaker: … really, a hospital transport chair?

See the rest of Pushliving’s response, including excellent photos of real women who use wheelchairs, at
pushliving.com/our-response-to-cosmos-advice-on-dating-a-woman-in-wheelchair/[/fusion_content_box][/fusion_content_boxes][fusion_content_boxes settings_lvl=”child” layout=”icon-with-title” columns=”1″ icon_align=”left” title_size=”14px” title_color=”#842f1e” body_color=”” backgroundcolor=”#ffffff” icon_circle=”” icon_circle_radius=”” iconcolor=”” circlecolor=”” circlebordercolor=”” circlebordersize=”” outercirclebordercolor=”” outercirclebordersize=”” icon_size=”” icon_hover_type=”” hover_accent_color=”#842f13″ link_type=”” link_area=”” link_target=”” animation_delay=”” animation_offset=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.1″ margin_top=”1px” margin_bottom=”1px” class=”” id=””][fusion_content_box title=”#SAYTHEWORD” icon=”” backgroundcolor=”” iconcolor=”” circlecolor=”” circlebordercolor=”” circlebordersize=”” outercirclebordercolor=”” outercirclebordersize=”” iconrotate=”” iconspin=”no” image=”” image_width=”0″ image_height=”0″ link=”” linktext=”” link_target=”_self” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=””]
Activist Lawrence Carter Long (@LCarterLong) sparked a hashtag revolution with this tweet:

“Disabled.” #SayTheWord. On purpose. Often. Until and unless we do, they won’t. #NotDifferent #NotSpecial #Disabled

Now the hashtag is popping up across social media platforms in response to presidential candidates, celebrities and others of note, daring them to #SayTheWord disabled.[/fusion_content_box][/fusion_content_boxes][fusion_content_boxes settings_lvl=”child” layout=”icon-with-title” columns=”1″ icon_align=”left” title_size=”14px” title_color=”#842f1e” body_color=”#000000″ backgroundcolor=”” icon_circle=”” icon_circle_radius=”” iconcolor=”” circlecolor=”” circlebordercolor=”” circlebordersize=”” outercirclebordercolor=”” outercirclebordersize=”” icon_size=”” icon_hover_type=”none” hover_accent_color=”#84241e” link_type=”” link_area=”” link_target=”” animation_delay=”” animation_offset=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.1″ margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_content_box title=”Lego’s First-Ever Wheelchair User” icon=”” backgroundcolor=”” iconcolor=”” circlecolor=”” circlebordercolor=”” circlebordersize=”” outercirclebordercolor=”” outercirclebordersize=”” iconrotate=”” iconspin=”no” image=”” image_width=”35″ image_height=”35″ link=”” linktext=”” link_target=”_self” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=””]Last spring, Rebecca Atkinson, a journalist with a hearing impairment from the United Kingdom, launched #ToyLikeMe, asking why can’t toy manufacturers include children with disabilities in their lines? And in late January, Lego answered with a young minifig wheelchair user. Part of the “Fun in the Park” set, it hits stores in July and is a marked improvement over Lego’s initial offering — an elderly wheelchair user in a hospital-style chair released as part of its Duplo line’s Community People Set.

Atkinson, a mom, says she got the idea for the project when she took a good look at her family’s toy box. “Not one plastic figure had a wheelchair, or a hearing aid, a white cane or any kind of disability at all,” she said to www.volup2.com.

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