> I am dismayed at the way that members of this list are distancing themselves
> from the issue of homophobia. Are there no disabled people who happen to be
> gay? I think not. I am not an active member of this list however I do look
> through the mail generated by this list.
I was not distancing myself and suspected that any attempt to inhibit
the flow would be misinterpreted this way. Ten years ago I worked
closely with Tuppy Owen from Outsiders which exists to provide
social and sexual outlets of all persuasions for disabled people. I
am aware that the medical profession largely ignores these and will
prefer to treat a perfectly normal expression of sexual interest or
frustration as something to be "cured" rather than faced.
I fully realise that many disabled students at university may well
get less than they had hoped for if their social life becomes an
unfulfilled mess and would regard dis-forum as a perfectly natural
place to say so and so consider what we, as support officers, might
do to help.
But what has this to do with a very general protest- however
deserving- if it is not what dis-forum is for.
>To be honest it does not strike me
> as a discussion list, unlike the other mailbase lists that have been
> established. Most members seem only to be concerned with the practicalities
> that are required for solving problems that individuals with a disability
> are faced with.
Oh good, we seem to be getting something right.
> There seems to be little mention of the emotional aspects,
> the stereotyping of them by society etc.
I subscribe to a list that often has this sort of traffic and I doubt
if most of dis-forum's members would stay five minutes if we went
that way. Sorry
It is very easy to set up a mailbase and takes less than a few
minutes, why use this one or blame it if it doesn't want to be all
things to all people? To repeat, the social problems of disabled
students- fine, -general issues of sexuality should surely be able to
find somewhere else more appropriate.
Dave Laycock MBE
Head of CCPD, Chair of NFAC
Computer Centre for People with Disabilities
University of Westminster
72 Great Portland Street
London W1N 5AL
tel. 0171-911-5161
fax. 0171-911-5162
WWW home page: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/ccpd/
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