From the [UK] Daily Mail:

Debbie Van der Putten (left) is one of eight contestants on a new BBC reality show. “Britain’s Missing Top Model” will give a woman with a disability the chance to be a mainstream model.

The aim of the series is to challenge the boundaries that seem to exist in the beauty and fashion industries and cast new light on our concept of the ideal woman.

Van der Putten lost her right arm in a bus crash in 2005. She posed nude for Playboy earlier this year.

Along with limb loss, disabilities to be represented by contestants on the show include deafness and paralysis. The show debuts Tuesday, July 1.

(Photo from the Daily Mail)

From the [UK] Times:

Doll manufacturers are starting to turn out all types of “disability dolls,” with prosthetic limbs, hearing aids, blindness and Down syndrome (left). In addition to reaping potential financial benefits, dollmakers say they are hoping to build the confidence of children with differences, as well as educate children about disability and help to remove stigma.

The chief executive of the Down’s Syndrome Association in the UK cautions parents, saying the dolls lack a research basis and vary widely in quality and accuracy. Other professionals worry that they will serve to further isolate and stigmatize children who have lifelong conditions like cerebral palsy or Down syndrome.

Parents’ opinions:

Rosa Monckton: [Daughter] Domenica’s childhood is as full of joy, pain and sorrow as any other. She should be defined by her common humanity rather than by her Down’s syndrome. She does not want to live in a parallel world peopled with Down’s syndrome dolls distinguishable from the rest. She does not want to be defined by her facial features, or by the gap between her big toe and the rest of her toes being wider than most, or that she is half the height of her peers. Still less would she want these differences portrayed in a series of sickly looking, politically correct mannequins.

Simon Barnes: People with Down’s syndrome are people, not syndromes. The more such people we bump into in our daily lives, the less of a big deal it becomes. The Downsie doll is just one more minor symptom of a major change. The doll is ‘orrible, but I like it. The thought behind it, anyway.

From the Los Angeles Times, New York Times:

Bert Shepard, who pitched for the 1945 Washington Senators, has died in California at the age of 87. Shepard was a fighter pilot who lost part of his right leg when he was shot down over Germany in 1944. After returning to the U.S., he resumed an earlier baseball career and was signed to the Senators, pitching in just one major league game. His impressive performance, striking out a Boston Red Sox batter with the bases loaded, gave hope to thousands of wounded veterans.

Through his life, Shepard was an advocate for opportunities for people with disabilities. “A handicapped person’s biggest problem is a prospective employer who’s made up his mind that you can’t do something,” he said.

(LA Times photo)

From the American Chronicle:

Tracy Ashton has a recurring comic role on NBC’s “My Name is Earl” as Didi, the one-legged girl. Ashton is a former cancer patient whose leg was amputated. She says she would like to see more roles for performers with disabilities in Hollywood, and a greater emphasis on getting people with actual disabilities to portray characters both with and without disabilities.

The Christian Science Monitor calls it “a perverse psychological drama about able-bodied people who yearn to become disabled,” and gives it a C-. Premiere gives it three stars, and calls it “a dark romance.” The Los Angeles Times says it’s “unexpectedly moving.”

Quid Pro Quo, in limited release, is the story of a public radio reporter who is investigating a story on able-bodied people who seek identity and eroticism in amputation, paralysis and paraplegia. The film by writer-director Carlos Brooks stars Nick Stahl as the reporter, who is himself partially paralyzed, and Vera Farmiga as his love interest, an attractive blonde who confesses her overwhelming desire to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

From the New York Times review by Stephen Holden:

Ms. Farmiga’s performance might be described as radioactive — her character, in which she uncovers many conflicting emotional layers, has a glow-in-the-dark phosphorescence that is sexy, but also scary. In Fiona’s mind the medical paraphernalia of paralysis has an erotic power similar to that of the accoutrements of sadomasochism. An elaborate brace, for instance, is the ne plus ultra in sexy lingerie.

After spinning out metaphors of paralysis and eroticism in its characters’ feverish imaginations, “Quid Pro Quo” decides at the last minute that it has to explain everything. The moment it pulls away from the fantastic, it lands with a thud.

The movie trailer is here.

In an interview with Premiere, actress Vera Farmiga says she based her performance on her reading on the Internet about people with “Body Integrity Identity Disorder”, which she says is authentic.

From the Los Angeles Times:

An estimated 50,000 survivors of the earthquake in China are expected to be permanently disabled, many with amputated limbs.

These people will face numerous hurdles in getting rehabilitation and counseling in a nation in which negative attitudes toward disabilities abound. Social services in rural areas are almost nonexistent. Very few schools in China have wheelchair access. Employers are reluctant to hire people with disabilities, preferring to pay fines rather than meet government requirements. A guidebook issued recently for volunteers at the Beijing Olympics, later withdrawn amid complaints, described people with physical disabilities as “stubborn and controlling.”

“I have large worries about people in rural areas,” said Li Yingsheng, director of the social work department at People’s University in Beijing. “When they return to their lives in their hometown, they will need psychological treatment, social services, and they’ll have problems to live on their own and find employment. Who will cover this?

Tim Keown, writing on ESPN.com, says allowing South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius (left) to compete for a spot in the Olympics is “symptomatic of a culture that is deathly afraid of excluding someone, for fear of hurting their feelings or being branded a bully or an elitist.”

Should he be allowed to compete? Of course not. This really isn’t that difficult. Pistorius is running on artificial legs, wonders of technology instead of flesh and bone. It’s simply not the same.

… The truth is, Pistorius has an event, and it’s called the Paralympics. It’s not an insult to him to suggest that he compete in that event rather than the Olympics. The Paralympians are amazing — usually more amazing than their able-bodied counterparts.

Earlier posts start here.