“Hey, buddy, don’t get a speeding ticket!” “When was his last X-ray?” “Oh, wow, you work!” For whatever reason, society loves to infantilize disabled people. It’s practically a hobby for some people, be they medical professionals or middle-aged pedestrians looking to test their comedy skills when they see a wheelchair…
Embracing My Inner Alien - a column by Kevin Schaefer
At the latest pop culture convention I attended, I waited in line for 45 minutes on a Saturday morning with a host of like-minded geeks. But the line wasn’t to meet my favorite celebrity, voice actor, or comic book creator. It was just to get on the elevator. Having gone…
On the last day of the annual Cure SMA conference, the closing session is always a panel called “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It features a group of adults with SMA talking about their daily lives and answering audience questions. Its core theme is that there are plenty of…
My 6-year-old niece, Lily, made an astute observation while we were waiting in line at Disney World to get a picture with Daisy Duck. “Is that a person in a costume?” In a place designed to capture the imaginations of children, leave it to Lily to break the spell with…
As a kid, I organized my hundreds of action figures in buckets. I kept them displayed on a wooden shelf next to my bed, and I knew the exact location of each figure and accessory. Anytime the figures were out of my reach, I relied on the patience of…
People-watching is one of my favorite things to do at Disney World. It’s a free and accessible activity, and it comes with more surprises than any of the hundreds of rides at the parks. Whereas “It’s a Small World” gets repetitive after a while, observing the public pitfalls of…
The 2002 science-fiction film “Minority Report” imagines a world in which a specialized police unit uses psychic technology to detect crimes before they happen. Tom Cruise plays a detective who’s part of the “Precrime” division, and it’s his job to arrest would-be murderers and criminals. Based on the…
Actor Ethan Hawke has a TED Talk titled “Give yourself permission to be creative.” In it, he speaks not just to professional and aspiring artists, but to every person’s need for human expression. He talks about how creativity exists in things like leadership, and how embracing our creative…
When I was in middle school, I became acquainted with Ponyboy, Sodapop, Johnny Cade, and the other “Greaser” boys from the pages of “The Outsiders.” Since its publication in 1967, S.E. Hinton’s seminal novel has continued to resonate with generations of teenagers and young adults from all walks…
The 2014 film “Boyhood” caught the attention of audiences and critics upon its release for its wildly experimental approach. Writer-director Richard Linklater spent 12 years making the movie, following the main character, Mason, from elementary school until he went away to college. Linklater used the same…
