Welcome to Disability Blog Carnival #9. I guess that makes me your carnie (although I feel compelled to point out that I have more teetth and smell a lot better than your typical carnie). The theme for this particular collection is “employment”. Let’s get started. Remember to keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times.

David at Growing Up with a Disability describes the typical workday of Chris, who is employed full-time as a mail clerk. And Wheelchair Dancer considers and declines an opportunity to show some skin.

Both Seahorse and Wheelchair Princess blog about the difficulties of finding work that is both fulfilling and flexible. And meanwhile, over at One Smoot Short of a Bridge, we are reminded that discrimination can be found in the most innocuous practices (like background checks). Interroblog writes about discrimination from a more institutional perspective.

Disgruntled Ladye blogs about the clueless reactions she receives from work colleagues who make assumptions about her medical condition. Speaking of clueless, Wheelie Catholic had a recent encounter with a child and her woefully uninformed mother.

The proprietor of BlindConfidential writes about his new radio gig, the first show of which will focus on web accessibility. And NPR rock star Stephen Kuusisto meditates on the cultural role of the uppity gimp (my words, not his).

Dave at Chewing the Fat explains why he loves working in the disability field. Kestrell begins the first part of her series on disability and participatory culture.

Simi Linton of Disability Culture Watch reviews the bestseller The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. And finally, Manxome writes a moving eulogy to her uncle.

Many of the blogs cited here are new to the scene, so let their authors know you like and want to see more of their work. I want to thank everyone who submitted as well as Penny for giving me the opportunity to host. And don’t forget to keep visiting this site to read all about the sordid goings-on here at The 19th Floor.

Nearly four hundred years have passed since Puritans settled our shores, but we’re still burdened with their legacy of sexual neuroses. Librarians are reluctant to stock The Higher Power of Lucky, a book that won the prestigious Newberry Award for children’s literature, because the word “scrotum” appears in the first sentence. Of course, our delicate sensibilities can just as easily be corrupted by terminology for the female anatomy. A Florida theater changed its marquee to read “The Hoohah Monologues” after receiving complaints from local parents who lacked the maturity or parenting skills to respond to curious inquiries from their children about the meaning of the word “vagina”.

I can’t help but marvel that most American adults don’t resort to the oblique phrase “down there” when referring to their genitalia. Credit sex ed in public schools and the Internet for keeping the forces of ignorance and prudishness at bay.

The Village Voice tells the story of Larry Seiler, a thirtysomething man with cerebral palsy and learning disabilities who, more than anything, wants a long-term romantic relationship. The article recounts in explicit detail his sexual encounters with women (many of them ill-advised), the despondency and loneliness that sent him to spend his limited income on pornography and strippers, and his desperate yearning to be accepted by able-bodied women. It’s one of the better pieces I’ve read regarding the challenges people with disabilities face when searching for romance.

Thanks to Blue for the tip.

I took the day off from work to attend a symposium sponsored by the U of M’s Journal of Law and Inequality to celebrate its 25th year of publication. The guest speakers discussed topics such as institutional racism, genetic profiling, international human rights, and disability discrimination in the workplace. I briefly chatted with a professor from Syracuse University’s Burton Blatt Institute, a policy think tank dedicated to disability issues. Syracuse’s commitment to disability rights is impressive; its law school offers a certification program in disability law and policy.

Every time I visit the University, I get a hankering to enter the world of academia. Getting paid for teaching, writing, and thinking has a deep appeal for me. And Minnesota, for all the leadership it provides in the realm of disability policy, really should be doing something similar to what Syracuse is undertaking. I’m sure I could make a compelling case for a disability studies program to the dean of one of the four law schools around here. All I have to do is line up a donor to provide the first couple million in operational costs. That shouldn’t be too difficult.

It would be easy for a journalist to descend into mawkishness when writing about the recent marriage between a pretty Midwestern woman and a soldier who was severely burned by an Iraqi suicide bomber, but this article from the London Times manages to remain matter-of-fact. The reporter has enough sense to get out of the way and let the couple tell their story. Here’s the photo that accompanies the piece.

And congratulations to my sister and her boyfriend, who just announced their engagement. I knew that one of my siblings would fall off the bandwagon of singlehood eventually. So, it looks like I’ll be needing a date for sometime in January 2009. I mean, if you’re not busy or anything. It’s totally cool if you can’t go. I’ll totally understand. But I just thought, y’know, it might be fun.