It seems clear to me that in lieu of compelling evidence, the prosecution tried to portray Rinderknecht as disabled and hence disposable, and their strategy seemed to be to hope that the jury would overlook the weak evidence against Rinderknecht in favor of reaching a guilty verdict.
The caution from researchers attributing violence to single factors has been largely absent when less privileged people’s (especially poor, BIPOC people’s) lives are impacted.
It seems like what the authors wanted to say is that the tankers were “put out of service,” “damaged,” or “destroyed.” This is not what disability means.
When you follow the false logic of threat assessment and label distressed students as risks, then the predictable action to be taken by school administrators will not be to provide more supports to students, but rather to criminalize, exclude, and punish, which is exactly what has been happening across the country.
For all the talk about destigmatizing mental health, it’s important to acknowledge that the reason why political actors and celebrities like Joy Behar so often weaponize psychiatry is precisely because mental illness is heavily stigmatized.
When we say that dyslexia shouldn’t be stigmatized because “in fact, people with dyslexia are very smart,” then we’ve actually lost the war against ableism. We’re conceding to nondisabled people’s false conceptions about what types of people are “good.”
June 9, 2019. Ali Stroker wins Best Featured Actress in a Musical at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards. An actor, singer, and wheelchair user, Ali Stroker has been a trailblazer for disability representation on the stage. She was the first wheelchair user to graduate from the Tisch School of the Arts Drama Department at New York University. In 2015, she was the first wheelchair user to appear on Broadway, starring as Anna in the musical, Spring Awakening. For her performance as Ado Annie Carnes in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma!, Stroker became the first wheelchair user to win a Tony Award in 2019.
Take the quiz: Check Your Ableism!
Being Young and Disabled
By Noah Griffth, Auburn University
I Was a "Student of Concern"
By Kate Jackson, Rutgers University
In My Moment of Distress
By Anonymous, Temple University