The Tragedy Zone: Ableism in Entertainment

Ableism, or discrimination towards individuals with disabilities, is pervasive in our society. The entertainment world and the media are largely responsible for shaping the way the general public views minority groups. The topic of disability is incredibly popular on screen and stage, but very few actors and writers with disabilities are being hired in comparison to the amount of work that is being produced on the topic. A startling percentage of best actor/actress Oscar winners have won for portraying a character with a disability of some kind, but only two actors with the same disabilities as their characters have been awarded. In discussions about diversity, the issue of disability representation is often overlooked. When stories about disability are told from an ableist perspective, there are various harmful tropes that commonly arise. These tropes and trends writers fall into can have a negative effect on the lives of people living with disabilities. True disability representation in entertainment calls for platforms for writers, artists and actors with disability to have voices. As a writer with a newfound physical disability, I wanted to write a play that indirectly captured my experience and educated my audience. I was able to incorporate knowledge I gained from research with my personal experience to write my play, titled The Tragedy Zone . By giving the audience the opportunity to see microaggressions through the lens of someone with a newfound disability, the play aims to educate them on the impact tiny ableist interactions can have on relationships and individuals

Greene, County of and New York State Nurses Association

In the Matter of the Fact Finding between: The New York State Nurses Association Association and The County of Greene. New York Employer PERB Case No.: M. 2008-091. Before: Sumner Shapiro, Fact Finder

Schenectady Community College Faculty Association and Schenectady County Community College

In the matter of the fact-finding between the Schenectady County Community College, employer, and the Schenectady Community College Faculty Association, union. PERB case no. M2010-230. Before: Sumner Shapiro, fact finder

\u3cem\u3eTestimony\u3c/em\u3e, \u3cem\u3eRefuge\u3c/em\u3e, and the Sense of Place: A Conversation with Terry Tempest Williams

This interview with Terry Tempest Williams is part of a series of conversations with contemporary western writers about the ethical and cultural implications of nature writing

That Could Happen : Nature Writing, the Nature Fakers, and a Rhetoric of Assent

Much has been made about the relationship between nature writing and science. The foundation of the genre is empirical observation of the more-than-human world. That’s not the whole of it, however. Because of the pairing of empiricism and other human experience, readers come to the genre with certain assumptions: they assume the text will tell them something independently verifiable about the object world--something they could see, hear, or touch if they were in the same location at the same time. They assume they are reading nonfiction, and for most readers, that distinction is important. Readers also come to nature writing with the hope that the writer will use imagination to help them see the world in a new way and possibly offer them a different and better relationship to the more-than-human sphere. If the proceeding is true, nature writing as a genre is unique, and we must ask: how should we read nonfiction nature writing? How does the nonfiction distinction change the relationship between the writer and the reader? The writer and the world? The reader and the world? In this article, Sumner argues that a rhetoric of assent is necessary when reading nature writers because nature writers are imaginatively exploring how we humans can establish a more ethical relationship with the more-than-human world

Dominion, Dressing, Keeping

In this essay, David Sumner uses his experiences rafting on the Colorado River to juxtapose the Biblical notions of dressing and keeping with ethical environmentalism