married to trouble

How did your brain even learn human speech? I'm just so curious.

Posts tagged Disability

151 notes &

lavender-labia: draggle: bluestockings31: Despite being labelled as “r*******” by the age of five, modern Kennedy scholars typically agree that Rosie’s so-called retardation was likely a mere learning disability. The pressure of keeping up with two brilliant older brothers and her social butterfly younger sister Kathleen took a significant toll on her self-esteem. She was extremely self-conscious about her weight, even though her sisters readily admitted she was the prettiest of the bunch. Her private letters and journals reveal a heartbreaking fixation with social acceptance and approval from her family. They also indicate a much greater intelligence than she was given credit for. As she reached young adulthood, she began to sink into deep depression. However, it should be noted that Rosie, as she preferred to be called, was almost universally adored by those who knew her. Her debut into London society was a roaring success; after playing off a brief onstage stumble on stage with her trademark good humour, she effectively endeared herself to the royal court. She also impressed Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt during a family visit to the White House. She loved Winnie The Pooh, sailing, and fashion. As the eldest sister, she was the one who the younger Kennedy siblings came to for comfort and companionship. At the age of 21, the little girl that doctors called “moron” was studying the Montessori method in the hopes of becoming a teacher for the leaning disabled. And was then brutally lobotomized in her twenties because she was the family embarrassment, a lobotomy rendering her incapable of life beyond breathing.  Her family never visited her and her younger siblings were lied to about what became of her until they had grown up prejudiced.  A nephew who grew to be disowned compared himself to her, and he was probably her only real sympathizer. Rosemary Kennedy’s fate could very well have been mine, and although it was not (because I successfully escaped), this haunts me. I never knew any of this. Wow.

lavender-labia:

draggle:

bluestockings31:

Despite being labelled as “r*******” by the age of five, modern Kennedy scholars typically agree that Rosie’s so-called retardation was likely a mere learning disability.

The pressure of keeping up with two brilliant older brothers and her social butterfly younger sister Kathleen took a significant toll on her self-esteem. She was extremely self-conscious about her weight, even though her sisters readily admitted she was the prettiest of the bunch.

Her private letters and journals reveal a heartbreaking fixation with social acceptance and approval from her family. They also indicate a much greater intelligence than she was given credit for. As she reached young adulthood, she began to sink into deep depression.

However, it should be noted that Rosie, as she preferred to be called, was almost universally adored by those who knew her. Her debut into London society was a roaring success; after playing off a brief onstage stumble on stage with her trademark good humour, she effectively endeared herself to the royal court. She also impressed Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt during a family visit to the White House.

She loved Winnie The Pooh, sailing, and fashion. As the eldest sister, she was the one who the younger Kennedy siblings came to for comfort and companionship. At the age of 21, the little girl that doctors called “moron” was studying the Montessori method in the hopes of becoming a teacher for the leaning disabled.

And was then brutally lobotomized in her twenties because she was the family embarrassment, a lobotomy rendering her incapable of life beyond breathing.  Her family never visited her and her younger siblings were lied to about what became of her until they had grown up prejudiced.  A nephew who grew to be disowned compared himself to her, and he was probably her only real sympathizer.

Rosemary Kennedy’s fate could very well have been mine, and although it was not (because I successfully escaped), this haunts me.

I never knew any of this. Wow.

(via lavenderlabia)

Filed under Rosemary Kennedy disability kennedy kennedy family ableism able-bodied ability discrimination learning disability obotomy

125 notes &

It is sometimes difficult for me to truly articulate my reaction to people saying that print is dead. I don’t want to be labeled a luddite, or anti-ebook; I love my computer, I love my smartphone, and I love the fact that I have the internet in my pocket. The existence of ebooks means that people who can’t store physical books can have more to read. It means that hard-to-find and out of print material is becoming accessible again. I means that people who have arthritis, or weak wrists, or other physical disabilities that make reading physical books difficult, can read again, without worrying about physical pain. I love that ebooks exist.

This doesn’t change the part where, every time a discussion of ebooks turns, seemingly inevitably, to “Print is dead, traditional publishing is dead, all smart authors should be bailing to the brave new electronic frontier,” what I hear, however unintentionally, is “Poor people don’t deserve to read.
seanan_mcguire: Across the digital divide. (via notemily)

(via reinventionoftheprintingpress-d)

Filed under Technology Literature Disability Class