Posts by Sacha
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And the official blurb about the CloseUp story has a fantastic trailing typo:
**Guts and Glamour**
They are sexy, sassy young things showcasing the latest fashions. Eleven women are modelling for the Attitude Awards; an event celebrating outstanding achievements of New Zealanders with disabilities. And yes, these women might be in wheelchairs or have a physical disability, but they tell Laurna White they are still gorgeous, glam and gusty. -
Well, I spose someone had better pimp the show (where did everyone go today?).
Tune in tomorrow from 9.30am on TV1 for Attitude's look at the award winners, and then there's another show about the awards at 10.30pm on TV1 (don't know anything about its focus).
Here's a clip from CloseUp yesterday about Tanya's fashion show segment (direct asx, 4m16). I haven't seen any other models referred to as "gutsy", but then that's the risk when you let Sainsbury's producers loose on content like this when all they're armed with are stereotypes.
Anyway, enjoy the shows..
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Thanks, Steve. I had no idea they differed like that.
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Hey, Giovanni, how did that competition pan out in the end where you were in the top three at predicting the US election results?
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I'm inclined to think the desire to belong, socially, is core instinctual stuff
Ae. We all "find our peeps" by seeking out similarity as well as difference - watch any teen. The balance varies for different personalites and at different stages of life, but it does seem quite instinctive and tribal:
"He seems different from our hapu or village" naturally leads to feelings of both wariness and fascination. The application and negotiation of cultural and social values comes in after that. Old fashioned thinking and fear are not our friends.
I like hearing people make connections between different experiences of disability - including mental illness. There is an extreme lack of connectedness between both groups of disabled people and the silo-ed organisations we work with. I guess that's one reason I focus for now more on commonality than difference, although I agree we need both for respectful understanding - and it's good to have people working both ends. As Joe noted, de-institutionalisation and accompanying lack of investment in connectedness has reduced the opportunities for some disabled people to forge bonds and to belong.
how many internally mangled people there are around
A wise counsellor told me that it is common to compare our insides with other people's outsides - and so they always seem more together than they actually feel. It's another wrinkle on "normal".
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Usury for fun and profit. :)
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Oh, and rather than just belonging perhaps think of it as paying attention to what is common rather than what is different. Many people value that, and I disagree it is inherently a bad thing.
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Have run out of steam (and this is just too much like work for both of us, Philip) so will be brief and then away for a while.
without having to be part of some kind of freakshow
Not a direct response but you know better than me it's how difference has been presented in our past (and interesting context for an awards show). I was thinking feeding tubes on ponsonby road - and how most other people would react now, before the better future we are undoubtedly creating arrives.
Not everyone is keen on taking on all that intense interest from others or the work of changing their attitudes, and all I was saying is that some personalities are more likely to. We all get good to some extent at blocking out the superficial.
performers, politicians or small children
Heh. I guess my description does bear a resemblance, although I can reassure you that we're both politicians in a way and I was thinking of certain young drama queens I have known..
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Ta, Philip. "Unique" and "special" do seem the same, and here's perhaps where we differ about the implications of that (diversity in action):
I'd say that belonging is important to more people than being distinctive is. While those people with attention-seeking exhibitionist personalities (ie: performers, politicians or small children) may be perfectly willing to trade off blending in for getting their needs met, others just want an ordinary life with no fuss and without having to be part of some kind of freakshow to justify that. Whatever social change we pursue must acknowledge this.
As a society we aren't doing a good enough job of honouring the values we already profess, without putting energy into making new ones.
Dignity and privacy are important to many of us, and especially our older citizens. So are compassion, achievement, fairness and a bunch of other useful values. Contribution is one I'm particularly fond of, so I am glad the attitude awards recognised that.
Time for dinner.
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And how is "unique" any different from "special"?
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