One of the many problems with the charity model of disability is that it is used as a way to distract people from systemic problems about disability. Charity both blames individuals and works to keep people from changeling social injustices.

One of the most glaring examples of this is within the mainstream cancer societies and organizations. They are heavily funded by corporations that distribute economic and environmental injustices and then attribute our sicknesses to individual behaviours and make themselves look benevolent while working to prop up industrial capitalism. Like other charities around disability, these guys have created an industry around finding a cure while doing little or nothing for the daily lives of disabled people (and in this case, it is trying to cure the results of, in many instances, being poisoned by the same people).

For a good article about this, read Cancer Inc. in Sierra Magazine.

The story of a man who is denied a disability pension because he is $1.70 over the cut-off may seem like an outrageous exception but, sadly, things like this happen all the time. The other week, I spoke with someone who has a family of 7 and cannot get on welfare because they make $70 more than the cut-off. This family lives on $1570 a month - that is about $225 per person per month.

For the full story about a man who can't make ends meet because he "makes to much" click here

In a country with supposedly universal coverage, some of the most vulnerable must pay cash for health care. It costs them their livelihoods — and sometimes their lives. Read the This Magazine article

Six staff at the Texas state run Corpus Christi State School, an institution that confines intellectually disabled people, have been charged with allegedly failing to intervene stop fights and/or "injury to a disabled person." The charges stem from video found of 20 fights between inmates at the institution.

At least one of the staff also allegedly kicked one of the inmates.

For the full story, click here.widespread abuse in Texas State Schools. Incidents of abuse in these institutions are, on average, 12 for 100 people.

A 12 year old autistic boy was Tasered at school for acting out. This is not the first time a child has been Tasered in Canada or the United States (nearly 400 people have died after being shocked in the two countries.) The presence of Tasers in schools combined with "zero tolerance" legislation in schools which we know targets disabled kids for being disabled means that we could see an increased number of incidents of disabled kids being shocked for being disabled.

For the full story, click here.