The way that we learn about Helen Keller in school is an absolute outrage. We read “The Miracle Worker”- the miracle worker referring to her teacher; she’s not even the title character in her own story. The narrative about disabled people that we are comfortable with follows this format- “overcoming” disability. Disabled people as children.
Helen Keller as an adult, though? She was a radical socialist, a fierce disability advocate, and a suffragette. There’s no reason she should not be considered a feminist icon, btw, and the fact that she isn’t is pure ableism- while other white feminists of that time were blatent racists, she was speaking out against Woodrew Wilson because of his vehement racism. She supported woman’s suffrage and birth control. She was an anti-war speaker. She was an initial donor to the NAACP. She spoke out about the causes of blindness- often disease caused by poverty and poor working conditions. She was so brave and outspoken that the FBI had a file on her because of all the trouble she caused.
Yet when we talk about her, it’s either the boring, inspiration porn story of her as a child and her heroic teacher, or as the punchline of ableist, misogynistic jokes. It’s not just offensive, it’s downright disgusting.
the reason the story stops once hellen keller learns to talk is no one wanted to listen to what she had to say
how’s that for a fucking punchline
Another part of the story that is often conveniently omitted is that Anne Sullivan, the “miracle worker” in question, was also a visually impaired woman (and abolitionist) who faced her own struggles finding accessible education. That was why she was able to teach Helen Keller and connect her with resources that would allow her to flourish in academia. When Helen Keller was railing against poverty-induced diseases that caused blindness, she was talking about things like trachoma which was what had caused her friend’s vision loss.
The fact that Sullivan is often portrayed as able-bodied in retellings of their story is indicative of the narrative that is most comfortable for an ableist society: that accessibility and equality are gifts bestowed upon the disabled by able-bodied heroes. Disabled children are never taught that they have the power to lift eachother up, and that’s a crying shame.
recovery is not ‘soon i will be untouched, perfect, and in a permanent state of bliss. i will be healed and all will be well, forever.’
recovery is ‘i will continue to survive despite what happens, i will find ways to cope instead of continually tearing myself down. i will recover and will see myself in a light that i never thought was possible.’
Reminded of this excerpt from Getting Through the Day: Strategies for Adults Hurt as Children by Nancy J. Napier: “It also helps to remember that healing occurs in a spiral. We swing around again and again to the same old issues, but at different turns of the spiral. Each time we confront a similar feeling or reaction we have yet another opportunity to learn and to heal. Each time, we bring with us whatever new understanding we have gained since the last time we cycled through this particular difficulty.”
Not sure what happened here, but if you work in the industry, a reminder:
Prop guns are guns. Blanks have real gunpowder in them. They can injure or kill — and they have. If you’re ever on a set where prop guns are treated without proper caution and safe handling, walk away.
p.s. They add the muzzle flashes in post now anyway, and they can even cycle the slide and add a shell ejection in VFX. Having live blanks on your set is not worth it. No show or shot is worth risking people’s lives.
When I was in college, we were lucky enough to have a teacher who was REALLY good about prop gun safety. He did a demo where he hung a piece of paper from a c-stand and then fired a prop gun BESIDE it, not even pointed at the paper.
But because this prop gun had a plugged barrel, that means all the blast — ½ the gunpowder required to propel a bullet beyond the speed of sound — comes out the SIDE of the gun.
It blew a hole in the paper and lit it on fire.
Prop guns are guns. Full stop.
Because there are different types of prop guns, they are all dangerous in different ways. Plugged barrel guns expel the blast sideways. Unplugged guns fire a blast out off the barrel, half the force of a real round without the bullet. But that was enough to kill Jon-Erik Hexum.
And because these are, in many cases, real guns firing blank round with ½ or ¼ load, they tend to jam and misfire. Which means you frequently wind up with an actor or prop master frantically trying to unjam the thing so you can keep shooting. Not a recipe for a safe set.
a tutorial on rescuing someone from an uncomfortable or dangerous situation
Damn. She did everything right. Yes, this is dangerous. But even a violent man is still human and can be outplayed. Predators rely on a pattern or routine. Disrupt the routine, and the predator freezes up. Once you disrupt them, don’t give them time to develop a response. Be bold. Be decisive. Talk loud. Act fast.
How should I approach this as a man? I wouldn’t want to make her more uncomfortable but I also wouldn’t be able to physically intimidate anyone because I’m short and un-athletic.
Talking to the woman is going to be hit or miss, just because she won’t know if you are an “out if the frying pan, into the fire” situation. BUT, you could still go with “thanks for waiting, you ready to go? Oh, who’s this?” And if she walks with you, you can say that she looked uncomfortable. I had a guy once ask if I could help with his phone to get me away from a conversation. OR: talk to the dude. “Hey man, can you give me directions to this place? Don’t I know you from somewhere?” Etc. Then she has time to escape. There are no set in stone answers, even if you don’t handle it perfect, if she gets out of the situation safely, count it as a win
Thank you for the response!!
Talking to the dude works!
One of my colleagues spotted a woman facing slightly away from a man who was talking to her, who was scary close. She looked uncomfortable and made eye contact. He noticed the guy was wearing a Broncos jacket and nonchalantly passed them both by and started the sports speak to the dude, like “aw bro did you see the defense last night? Hell of a time to he a Bronco fan, right?” And stood slightly behind the guy so he had to turn away from the woman. She said a cheeky “I’m not into sports, g'night!” comment and slipped away to the elevator. The dude looked super pissed but just stalked away to his car.
What was he supposed to do, admit to bad intentions?
Sometimes you don’t need to be the savior, but a distraction.
