It’s Christmas again already? Didn’t we just do this?
I hope everyone has a safe and joyful holiday. Wherever you are, I hope it’s where you want to be. I’m going to finish wrapping a few presents. And later, if I’m feeling really adventurous, I might add a little nutmeg to my tube feeding.
There are a lot of barriers to the adoption of a single-payer health care system, but one that doesn’t get much attention is our tendency to view health care as something we need to earn. To see what I mean, take a look at articles like this one about growing enrollment in Medicaid. People interviewed for the story express guilt at accepting government “handouts”. That’s the problem with the peculiar historical development of public health care programs in this country. When Medicare and Medicaid were passed four decades ago, they were explicitly framed as programs for the aged, poor, and disabled. That made political sense at the time, but it also had the unintended consequence of setting the terms for future health care debates. Any reliance on government health care programs meant that you were part of the underclass; that you had failed as a self-sufficient provider for yourself and your family.
Most other Western countries never fell into this trap. When it came to health care access, they enfranchised everyone from the start. I’d like to think that this economic crisis, combined with the breakdown of modern conservatism, might push us to a point where we no longer associate government health care with personal failure or inadequacy. But old prejudices die hard.
There isn’t much on the web that can make me smile and whisper “wow!”, but that’s exactly the reaction I had tonight when I discovered Auditorium. Auditorium is a web-based game based on a simple concept, but executed with charm and elegance. There are no homicidal zombies or vengeful aliens to be found here; only streaks of light and fragments of music. It’s the gaming equivalent of a nice sorbet: refreshing and cool.
The game’s designers hope to release a full version of the game soon. And if it’s anything like what I encountered on the website, I’ll happily open my wallet.
The game is quite addictive, so don’t start playing if you have a work deadline or final exam in your immediate future.
I often joke that I’m eagerly awaiting the day when robotic nurses can assume responsibility for my daily cares. And should that day ever arrive, I’m willing to pay a little extra to have my nurse programmed with pole-dancing capabilities. I realize this isn’t a medical function in the strictest sense, but I’m a firm believer in a holistic approach to health. However, I would like my robot to look a little less like a CCTV camera and a little more like Summer Glau.
It’s a little schmaltzy, but here’s a brief story about a young girl with cerebral palsy who is given a small part in a production of The Nutcracker. Actually, for a human interest story on a morning news program about a kid in a wheelchair, the schmaltz factor is pretty low. I’m also impressed that the dance company official interviewed for the story doesn’t seem self-congragulatory about including someone with a disability in the show. Instead, he emphasizes that dance should be an inclusive activity.
Thanks to Rose for the tip. Coming up with material for this blog every day would be much more of a chore if not for all the links my friends send me.
Technology competitions are an increasingly popular way to spark innovation in areas like robotics and space exploration. Now, the concept is being used to foster development of adaptive software for people with disabilities. Project:Possibility is a nonprofit corporation that is dedicated to creating open-source software applications that address a variety of disabilities. So much of the adaptive software currently on the market is proprietary and expensive. The on-screen keyboard that I use for writing tasks retails for about $300. I’d love to see an open-source keyboard that is maintained and updated by a strong user community.
And I will gladly bequeath my life savings to the organization if they can come up with a way for me to play Fallout 3 independently.
When I first heard that megachurch pastor Rick Warren is going to deliver the Inaugural invocation, I was disappointed. His clumsy attempts to frame his opposition to Proposition 8 as a “civil rights” issues is evasive doublespeak designed to obscure his plain vanilla homophobia. But I’m willing to give Obama the benefit of the doubt on this one. Warren has advocated for environmental causes and has directed a significant amount of his church’s resources to reducing poverty and HIV around the world. If granting Warren a speaking slot at the Inauguration paves the way for progressives and evangelicals to make common cause on these issues, I can go along with that. Besides, very few people will remember any of Warren’s words six months from now.
I have no doubt that Obama will disappoint me in the years ahead, but I choose to reserve my outrage for the decisions he makes as president.
Every week, Ray, a 54-year-old man, is taken to a local clinic for electro-convulsive therapy. But Ray finds these treatments frightening and a direct cause of significant memory loss. He wants the treatments to stop, but he’ll need a court order for that to happen.
For most people, the right to refuse medical treatment isn’t a matter up for debate. But for people with mental illness, the same standards don’t always apply. We tend to assume that a person who is experiencing debilitating depression or hearing voices isn’t capable of making decisions about their medical treatment. In some cases, there may be legitimate arguments to make regarding a person’s competence, but it’s worth questioning whether stigma influences a judge’s decision to compel treatment. I don’t pretend to have a full understanding of the role mental illness plays in affecting one’s decision-making capabilities, but I do think it’s possible for a person to make a rational decision between coping with one’s symptoms and the dramatic side-effects of a treatment.
Thanks to Bridget for the tip.
Japanese scientists have developed a crude but seemingly effective method for computer-assisted scanning and projection of images generated in the brain. I’m predicting that this technology will enable me to retire from my career as a bureaucrat in a couple decades and take up painting. My impressionistic landscapes will be recognized for their dreamlike quality and they’ll earn me a few State Fair ribbons. I’ll also attempt a few nudes, but I’ll grow frustrated and abandon them when I realize my brain has a tendency to exaggerate certain features.
Advocates in the blind community are unhappy with a Saturday Night Live skit that pokes fun at New York governor David Paterson, who happens to be blind. Here’s the clip:
I’m usually one who’s willing to give comedy writers wide latitude when it comes to disability. You’ll recall that I didn’t share the concerns of many disability activists regarding the film Tropic Thunder. And I admire the writers of shows like South Park and The Office, who frequently incorporate disability themes into their scripts. In fact, the SNL writers might want to watch those episodes for some tips on giving disability the comedic treatment without confusing nastiness for humor. Because that’s this skit’s big failure. It actually hopes to find the funny in a blind man holding a chart upside down. Or in the notion that a blind man is woefully unprepared for the challenges of leadership. The other shows I mentioned have a knack for finding the funny in everyone else’s reactions to a person’s disability, but this skit tells me that the kids running SNL have yet to smooth out the more dickish edges of their writing.
It’s too bad, too. The show was briefly funny during the election, but it looks like it’s rediscovering its capacity to suck.
Thanks to Rose for the tip.