April 30, 2005
Smitten
My impressions of last night's concert:
Shirley Manson is hotter than an exploding star. My God, the woman is beautiful. But more importantly, she and the rest of the band put on one of the best musical performances I've seen in recent years. Manson tore into almost every song with self-assured relish. The playlist was equally divided between some of their older material and their new album, "Bleed Like Me." As other Garbage fans might expect, the songs that generated the most enthusiastic crowd response, as well as the band's most manic performances, included "Queer," "Stupid Girl," and "I Think I'm Paranoid." But I also liked some of the newer, more metal-driven songs like "Run Baby Run" and "Bad Boyfriend." Manson has a magnetic presence on stage; she was constantly in motion, prowling around the stage with a fierce, diva-like intensity. And when she spoke in between songs in that lovely Scottish brogue of hers, my heart shattered into a million tiny pieces.
First Ave was packed, but I found a good spot right behind the mixing board that afforded me an excellent view of the stage. I was completely boxed in by other people; this place is not for claustrophobics. On my right was a guy furiously playing air drums during the whole concert. Behind me was a cute dark-haired girl using my chair as an armrest. And what is it about me and drunks at a concert? During or after a show, some obviously intoxicated person always comes up to me and wants to be my friend. In their alcohol-induced hazes, they seem to think they're doing me a favor by striking up a slurred conversation with me. This time, I got ambushed outside the club as I was heading home. Fortunately, a couple friends who happened to be walking down the sidewalk rescued me from this encounter.
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April 29, 2005
Only Happy When It Rains
Tonight I'm seeing Garbage at First Avenue. This is the first time I'll visit First Av since the citywide smoking ban was implemented about a month ago. It should make the experience more pleasant, but I'm not expecting the place to be completely odor-free. Those walls have absorbed decades of cigarette smoke and I don't think a month is long enough for a sufficient airing-out. I'm hoping to find a place to sit where I can see the stage (and more specifically, Shirley Manson) instead of the backs and asses of other concertgoers. Now, backs and asses aren't necessarily an unpleasant form of scenery, but it can get to be a little monotonous after a while.
Depending on what time I get home, I'll try to post some thoughts on the concert.
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April 28, 2005
He's Not Evil, Just Misunderstood
Blogs can be put to all kinds of creative uses. Exhibit #1: A blog written in the voice of Darth Vader. Whoever's behind this is a true Star Wars geek. He (or she; mustn't discount the possibility) knows the names of Imperial Star Destroyers, minor characters, and obscure planets that are only casually referenced in the movies. The scary thing is that I don't have to look up any of those references. The blog itself is actually rather funny. Here's Vader describing his dispatch of an incompetent Imperial officer:
The problem is solved now, however. I crushed his trachea with my mind, and promoted Piett to command the fleet. I have transmitted to following note to Ozzel's kin:
Dear House of Ozzel,
I regret to inform you that your son has been killed in the line of duty.
He was an incompetent, yammering boob and he will be missed by none. I have allowed the men to pillage his personal belongings, which is why we have enclosed nothing but the sole remaining item: a torn advertisements page from a magazine of midget pornography. May it shock and disturb you, and may you think of it always when you remember your dearly departed son, the ninny.
This is geek humor, so if you're not a Star Wars fan, you'll probably just be puzzled by the whole thing. I'd like to see more bloggers do metafiction like this. How about a blog as written by Sauron? Or by Professor Moriarty? I'm not sure it would work as well for "good" characters. A blog by Luke Skywalker or Frodo Baggins would probably come across as a lot of self-righteous sniveling and whining.
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April 27, 2005
Bartender, Another Puff!
I enjoy a good beer as much as the next man, but I drink too slowly to ever get a real buzz on. Fortunately, someone has been good enough to come up with an aerosolized form of alcohol. Now, this is something I can get behind. I just need to design some kind of adapter that will let me stick the delivery system in-line on my ventilator tube. Then I can breathe and get drunk at the same time. Good times.
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April 26, 2005
Long-Distance Relationship
One little-noticed provision of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act is one that will severely limit the right of Medicare beneficiaries to receive in-person hearings in front of an administrative judge. These hearings usually occur when there's a dispute about whether Medicare will pay for a certain service. In the past, beneficiaries would usually present their case to a judge in person. Now, hearings will be presented via videoconference. This has a lot of disability advocates concerned, and rightly so. It's a lot more difficult to give a judge a complete picture of a person's health when you're communicating through a television screen. Sure, you can submit a whole forest's worth of medical records, but that's not the same thing as letting a judge see a person's severe arthritis or labored breathing. One quirk of human nature is that we usually react most strongly to the things we can see ourselves. A stack of medical records doesn't measure up to seeing someone sitting in front of you. But these are tight budget times and certain sacrifices must be made, I suppose. Let's just hope that the video screens are high-definition.
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April 25, 2005
Starred Review
I finished Cloud Atlas yesterday and it is, without a doubt, one of the most memorable books I've read in the last couple years. I wasn't familiar with David Mitchell's previous work, a fact that I will soon remedy now that I see what a dazzling talent he is. The book consists of six interlocking stories; just how they are connected doesn't become clear until roughly the midpoint of the book. The stories are a melange of genres; historical travelogue, epistolary bildungsroman (my English profs would be proud I remember those terms), thriller, science fiction, and satire. I'm also not giving too much away if I also reveal that the stories move forward through time, from the early 19th century to the distant future, and then twist back upon themselves like a Mobius strip.
Mitchell, unlike a lot of "literary" authors, seems to have a great respect and fondness for the traditions of each genre. He plays with some familiar tropes in each style, but his writing is so vivid and assured that I never felt like I was reading a pastiche. The stories intertwine on a more thematic level as well. Mitchell uses the stories to explore oppression, free will, consumerism, and the cyclical nature of history.
This book lost the Booker Prize to Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty. I'll have to check out that novel to see if it really surpasses the virtuosity that made Cloud Atlas such a joy to read.
And a big thanks to Jessa at Bookslut for making me aware of this book in the first place.
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April 24, 2005
Linking Up
The blogroll on the right side of this page has received a much-needed update and redesign. Have fun exploring the links and let me know if anything is broken.
Also, a big shout-out to my homie PZ Myers, who has a great op/ed piece in today's Strib criticizing efforts to introduce intelligent design theory into our public schools. ID theory is basically creationism dressed up in a fancy suit and PZ does a good job of explaining why it's pseudoscientific garbage.
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April 23, 2005
Thinning The Pile
I'm canceling my Time subscription. I was already annoyed with its red-state pandering (witness recent cover stories on the racy media and God/Jesus/Christianity), but the cover devoted to Ann Coulter sealed the deal. Besides, I'm woefully behind on my New Yorkers, a dilemma which I apparently have in common with other people. I really do try to read my New Yorkers. I don't just leave them lying around to impress the hypothetical female visitor with my intellectual sophistication. Well, maybe I do, but I still try to read them.
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April 22, 2005
The Way We Were
If I have an extra hundred bucks lying around, I plan on using it to participate in National Geographic's Genographic Project. You send them a DNA sample on a cheek swab and they'll sequence it to determine your deep genetic ancestry. In other words, the results won't tell you the identity of your great-great-grandmother, but it will show you your genetic connection to the earliest human beings and the specific migratory path of your ancestors as they journeyed from Africa and spread around the globe. If I had to guess the trajectory of my own ancestral migration, I would assume that they crossed from Africa into the Arabian peninsula and eventually into Eastern and Northern Europe. But I'd be really curious to see the actual results. I hope this project gets participation from a wide cross-section of the population, including indigenous peoples. Some people are already accusing the project of bio-prospecting for future genetic patents, a charge which the project directors vigorously deny. I can only imagine the number of hoops the directors had to jump through to get approval from their IRB (Institutional Review Board). Still, the collection of thousands, or even millions, of DNA samples will one day be attempted by a for-profit corporation with substantially fewer scruples. If we're not careful, we could see human genomic research become the basis for future military or weapons applications. The general public gets all in a tizzy about cloning, but I think the real concerns lie in the fact that governments and corporations will eventually figure out how to make all those As, Ts, Cs, and Gs in the human chromosome do their bidding.
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April 21, 2005
Foot Traffic
I was at a Minneapolis advisory committee meeting yesterday and we started talking about Nicollet Mall. Nicollet Mall is in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, a few blocks from my perch on the 19th Floor. It's supposed to be our city's version of a pedestrian mall but it's really not designed as such. It does have wide sidewalks and most street traffic is prohibited, except for buses. That's one problem right there. Nicollet Mall has a lot of restaurants with sidewalk cafes. One of the pleasures of living in Minneapolis during the spring and summer is sitting outside on the Mall with friends. Until a bus comes rumbling down the street, temporarily drowning out any conversation and adding a lovely diesel aftertaste to the food. And the sidewalk cafes don't leave much room to navigate with a wheelchair. There have been times when I've completely stopped pedestrian traffic on a whole block because I'm trying to squeeze between a table and a light post. If I had the Mayor's ear, I'd tell him to get rid of the street and make the whole Mall one big sidewalk. That's what I really liked about Lincoln Mall in Miami. No vehicle traffic and plenty of room to walk. Minneapolis shouldn't try to imitate Miami, but the Mall's design doesn't currently support its image as an urban thoroughfare for pedestrians.
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April 20, 2005
Going Higher
Hope you all had a righteous 420. Yeah, you know what I'm talking 'bout. You don't? Well, just do a Google search. Hell, they talked about it on Morning Edition today. How underground can it really be?
I had a really weird dream last night. I was at some kind of awards dinner with the rest of the Humphrey Fellows. It felt like the Golden Globes or something. We had apparently made a movie that was getting all kinds of awards, but I have no idea what the movie was about. But I'm pretty sure Julia Roberts was at my table. I guess you had to be there. The dream had this weird internal logic that most dreams have while you're experiencing them. This was such a weird and quirky dream that I felt compelled to mention it. So there you go. Let the psychoanalysis begin.
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April 19, 2005
Market Forces
According to the Post, Bush's efforts to "competitively source" federal jobs may be jeopardizing some federal employees with disabilities. Thousands of federal jobs are being reviewed to determine whether a private contractor can perform the same duties at a lower cost. A lot of these jobs are in food service, administrative support, and the like. Federal employees with disabilities may need additional support or supervision, which may put them at a disadvantage with a private contractor when doing a pure cost analysis.
For a president who likes to tout his so-called New Freedom Initiative, which includes the integration of people with disabilities in the workplace, this news only serves to illustrate Bush's hypocrisy. The federal government has long been a leader in the employment of people with disabilities. Every administration since Truman's has recognized the important role the federal government plays in creating job opportunities for people with disabilities. The employment policies of the federal government eventually filtered into the private sector, creating even more jobs for people with disabilities. During the Schiavo circus, Bush made it a point to say that he was fighting for the rights of the disabled, or as he put it: "those who live at the mercy of others." Apparently, his advocacy doesn't extend to the day-to-day issues that really matter to people with disabilities, like jobs and health care.
To be fair, the agencies questioned in the article have said that employees will be retrained and given new assignments if necessary. However, it can take a worker with a disability a long time to build the system of supports that lead to success for that individual. Forcing a sudden job change is disruptive to both the worker and the employer. I realize that employees with disabilities can't be shielded from every eventuality, but they deserve to be supported in their continuing quest for independence and integration.
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April 18, 2005
Queen Of The Damned
Ann Coulter was down in Northfield yesterday, trading insults with the students at St. Olaf College. And she's on the cover of this week's Time. Why the media still pays attention to this woman is beyond me. She's not particularly clever or insightful. She's about as unfunny as some of those Borscht-Belt comedians from back in the day. But I guess she does sort of embody the Republican feminine mystique, if there is such a thing. She's white. She's blonde. She's thin almost to the point of being anorexic. She's Protestant. And she wears really short skirts. And she pretty much finds people who aren't white and Protestant kinda icky. In some conservative circles, this constitutes being a hottie. Personally, she strikes me as someone who is desperately trying to hide how boring and unoriginal she
really is.
It's like summer here in the Twin Cities! I wore shorts the other day! The brilliant whiteness of my legs almost blinded me, but damnit, I wore shorts! And other people are wearing shorts! Beautiful people! Life is beautiful! I'm so giddy I'm going to end this sentence with two exclamation points!!
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April 17, 2005
Learning By Osmosis
I'm listening to the In Our Time podcast from the BBC. It's very soothing. I think they're talking about archeology, but I can't quite focus on the conversation. There's something about people with British accents speaking eruditely on obscure academic subjects that has a very calming effect on the nerves. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon. They should play this stuff in dentists' offices instead of that lite-rock excrement.
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April 16, 2005
Ten Fingers And Ten Toes
George Will had a provoking op-ed piece in the Washington Post a couple days ago that touched upon the concepts of genetic perfection, disability, and freedom of choice. He pointed out that 80% of fetuses that test positive for the genetic markers for Down's Syndrome are aborted in the US. This, of course, has some disability rights groups concerned that expectant parents are being pressured into choosing abortion rather than attempting to raise a child with a disability. I'll admit this is a sticky topic for me. I'm not prepared to condemn parents who choose not to have a child with a disability. At the same, I do think the much of the medical establishment tends to portray life with a disability in an exceedingly negative light. That's why I could probably go along with something like Senator Brownback's proposed Prenatally Diagnosed Condition Awareness Act. The bill, as Will describes it, would "increase the provision of scientifically sound information and support services to patients who receive positive test diagnoses for Down syndrome, spina bifida and other conditions." Assuming that "scientifically sound information" also means politically unbiased information, I don't have a problem with giving parents a complete picture of their child's disability. If this bill threw up roadblocks to abortion like a forced waiting period, I'd have more reservations. But I do think there's a certain amount of inevitability to this sort of thing. You can't provide genetic testing and not expect parents to make decisions based on the results of those tests. Twenty years from now, I'd be very surprised if children are still born with SMA, at least in the developed world. I'm not saying that's good or bad. It's simply history at work.
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April 15, 2005
Going Nuclear
I find it amusing that the hottest political debate of the moment surrounds the filibuster, a concept which most Americans only vaguely remember from their ninth-grade civics class. I also find it amusing that the Republicans, and specially religious conservatives, have enthusiastically portrayed themselves as long-suffering victims of a liberal judiciary. Look at this poster for an upcoming rally that will feature Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and other conservative Christian leaders:
This is a blatantly cynical attempt to turn a debate about an obscure Senate rule into a righteous battle between the faithful and the unbelievers. And if Frist wants to have any hope of being a presidential nominee in 2008, he has to play along with this circus. Never mind that most of the judges in the Schiavo case, and the majority of the Supreme Court justices, are Republican appointees. Facts can be inconvenient at times like this. This would all be so funny if it weren't so terribly sad. But if the filibuster is abolished, the world won't end. Someday, Republicans will be the minority party again and they will face the long-term consequences of their thirst for complete power.
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April 14, 2005
Public Works
The City of Minneapolis is going ahead with plans to solicit bids to install and maintain a citywide WiFi network. Not wanting to aggravate its inferiority complex, the City of St. Paul is developing its own plans for a wireless network. The Minneapolis won't mirror other citywide public networks like the one planned for Philadelphia. This one will be privately owned. Residents will pay about twenty bucks for month for access speeds of 1-3mbps. I'll probably stick with my faster wired connection, but this will be great for people who don't want to pay for cable or DSL. I'd like to see the subscription fee closer to ten or fifteen bucks, but this is a good start. This also coincides nicely with a project I'm working on with other Humphrey Fellows on the "Creative Class." Investments like this attract and retain professionals and entrepreneurs that are vital to a city's future, or so says Dr. Florida. Despite my misgivings about the hype he imbues in his theory, I think he actually has a point about the payoffs of technology improvements.
Because I just know you're curious, here are some of the latest additions to my iTunes playlist: "Beating Heart Baby" by Head Automatica; "Galang" by M.I.A.., "Don't Stop" by Brazilian Girls; and "Anything" by Styrofoam. M.I.A. and the lead singer of Brazilian Girls are competing for the title of Mark's Next Pop Culture Crush. I'll let you know who wins.
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April 13, 2005
The Out-Of-Towner
I read on Adam Curry's blog that he's going to be in Minneapolis in the next few days. I'll be curious to hear his impressions of my fair metropolis. Downtown Minneapolis doesn't have the hustle and bustle of a Manhattan or a London, but we still have our big-city charms. If he is staying downtown, he should try to catch the newly remodeled Walker Art Center. So should I, for that matter. And he should drop by Hell's Kitchen for breakfast, particularly one of their Bloody Marys made with beer. Actually, I could go for one of those right about now.
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April 12, 2005
Letter To The Editor
I realize the death of a Pope is a big deal, but does it really deserve the cover of a magazine for two consecutive weeks? I'm looking at you, Newsweek. And you're not much better, Time. Over the last few months, you've been phoning it in with cover stories on Mary, Jesus, God and medicine, and probably a few others I'm not remembering. I understand you're trying to boost circulation in the red states, but how about tossing in some real news once in a while? I'm not saying you have to do it every issue. But every once in a while you might want to remind people about more earthly concerns, like the aftermath of the tsunami (remember the tsunami?) or the progress being made by the newly elected Iraqi government. Just a suggestion.
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April 11, 2005
Fair Pay
NPR did a story this morning on personal care attendants in Maryland, where the state pays them only five dollars an hour. That's even less than the federal minimum wage of $5.15/hour. You can make more flipping burgers at McDonald's than you can caring for a person with disabilities. In most states, PCAs are low-wage workers. In Minnesota, I think the average wage is $8-$10 per hour with few benefits and no chance in hell for a raise. Accordingly, the people who are attracted to PCA work tend to be the same people attracted to other low-wage jobs: college kids, newly-arrived immigrants, and people who simply don't need/care to make much money. PCAs aren't treated as professionals and their pay reflects that. This is an ongoing problem for both people with disabilities and their PCAs. Many PCAs provide extraordinary quality of care, but our society seems to regard this work with some degree of disdain.
If I had my way, PCAs would be trained and licensed professionals. A lot of people with disabilities disagree with me on the licensure thing, but I don't see it as an onerous requirement. If we require hairdressers and truck drivers to be licensed, I don't see why our standards should be lower for people providing personal care in someone's home. The training wouldn't have to be anything super intensive. But it should be enough to instill a sense a professionalism that is accompanied by a commensurate level of pay.
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April 10, 2005
Planned Obsolescence
The site was down earlier today; not sure why. I've been getting hit with a lot of a comment spam lately, so I wonder if my hosting company had another hissy fit and pulled the plug temporarily. It's a constant battle to stay on top of the spam onslaught. I may have to consider implementing comment registration.
I'm beginning to notice some faint yellowish burn-in on my monitor from my SETI screensaver. I thought screen burn wasn't a problem on most modern monitors. It's nothing I can't live with, but a new monitor may be in oder in the next few months. Of course, it will be a LCD monitor because I'm tired of the huge footprint of my current CRT. Anyone out there have recommendations on a good LCD?
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April 09, 2005
Dissension In The Ranks
After the warm afterglow of the Republican sweep in November, the first cracks are beginning to show on the mighty monolith of GOP unity. Recent polls show that the party is splintering over issues such as Social Security, the "nuclear option" regarding judicial filibusters, and the recent federal intervention in the Schiavo case. Rising gas prices and the continuing legal troubles surrounding Tom DeLay aren't helping to improve Republican morale. Then there are the clumsy threats against judges from the far right's sock puppets in Congress. After the election, I consoled myself with the thought that if the Republicans were given enough rope, they would hang themselves. Perhaps this is the tying of the knot.
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April 08, 2005
Low Fuel
Here's something cheery to ponder over the weekend. This article in Rolling Stone posits a gloomy future once the era of cheap oil ends. The author envisions the collapse of our high-tech lifestyle and a return to a kind of feudal agrarian society. I might worship too much at the Altar of Technology, but I don't think life will become that grim. I have at least some hope that we'll come up with some kind of imperfect solution, most likely nuclear power. But there's little doubt that the days of cheap gas are probably nothing but a memory now. I spent almost $40 dollars to fill my tank the other day. I don't drive much, except the short commute to work, so I can absorb the cost. It's the people with two- or three-hour commutes that are going to start feeling the pinch.
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April 07, 2005
Thugs & Dames
I love all things noir. Whether on film or in books, I love stories about shady people doing shady things in cities where the streets are always wet and the sun never shines. I love all the well-worn accouterments of noir; the tough-as-nails, hard-talking men, the dangerously seductive women, the rapidfire dialogue full of overwrought similes. I saw Sin City over the weekend and it's apparent that the director shares the same love for noir. It's noir on crystal meth; the movie has an almost insatiable appetite for violence, with a little sex thrown in for good measure. Visually, it closely adheres to the style of the comic books; stark black and white with splashes of color punctuating the scenery. In one early scene, a man is lighting a cigarette for a beautiful woman in a red dress. We see the red in her dress and in her lips, but when the flame of the lighter nears her face, her eyes briefly flare an intense green. It's little touches like this that make the film a treat to watch.
One other thing. If I wrote a letter to Jessica Alba that included my picture and the claim that I have only six months left to live, do you think she would have dinner with me?
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April 06, 2005
They Just Keep Going And Going And...
Looks like I'll be co-teaching another CLE at Gillette Hospital again this summer. I did something similar a couple summers ago; it's a way for attorneys to get CLE credits and the hospital gets to attract potential donors. This time, we're doing a CLE on serving clients with disabilities. I'll be talking about disability culture, which should be interesting. I doubt most attorneys even realize there is a culture associated with disability. I'll do a brief overview of concepts like the independent living movement, self-advocacy, and the like.
The Mars Rovers just got another 18 months of operational funding. I'm amazed that they are still going after more than a year of service. It shows that NASA is still capable of some impressive engineering feats.
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April 05, 2005
Sit Down!
Beauty pageants should have died along with vinyl records and disco. But for some reason, they persist. And as long as there are beauty pageants, there will be scandal. The Wisconsin Miss Wheelchair has been dethroned after she was photographed standing up and the picture ran in a local newspaper. The woman in question has a form of muscular dystrophy and uses a scooter for mobility, but she can still stand. The pageant officials were miffed by this revelation and stripped her of her title. Silly, yes? The pageant officials seem to regard disability as an all-or-nothing proposition. Either you use a wheelchair or you don't. Look, if you want to have a pageant for women with disabilities, fine. But the rigid requirement that your contestants be in wheelchairs all the time seems to fetishize the wheelchair to the point it's a little creepy.
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April 04, 2005
Breaking Ground
Last week, the Minnesota Legislature and Governor agreed on a bonding bill that will fund several public works projects throughout the state. It's the first major bipartisan agreement since Pawlenty took office. At nearly $1 billion dollars, there's something in the bill for everyone. I'm especially pleased to see that approximately $22 million has been set aside for a new planetarium atop the under-construction downtown Minneapolis library. I'm a firm believer in the power of museums, theaters, parks, and other public attractions to bolster a city's quality of life and economic vibrancy. I wish I could be confident that this new spirit of bipartisanship will carry over to the budget negotiations, but I think the Republicans are so entrenched in their pledge of no new taxes that any kind of compromise will be exceedingly difficult. To be fair, the Democrats need to be realistic; we can't restore funding to 1990s levels. But we can set priorities to ensure that the services on which Minnesota has built its reputation as a desirable place to live, services like education and health care, are adequately funded. The Star Tribune had an editorial proposing one solution to the deficit; a $1 tax on cigarettes and extending the sales tax to clothing. I'd like to think that most voters would go along with such a modest proposal.
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April 03, 2005
Rise Of The Machines
This whole brain-implants-for-gimps meme is really starting to take off. Now The Guardian has a story on it. Sure, it's all good PR now, but what happens when some quad with an implant goes all Dr. Octopus and starts hijacking computer networks with his mind in his quest to take over the world? No more fuzzy human interest stories, I promise you.
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April 02, 2005
Doctor, Doctor
Looks like I have some competition for the title of Supercrip Professional--Midwest Region. Here's a story about a blind med student who just earned his MD at UW-Madison. And he's still working on his Ph.D. What I found especially interesting about the article was its description of the various assistive technology devices he uses in the course of treating patients. And he has a black belt in jujitsu. And he's engaged to another med student. *sigh* I suddenly feel like such a poseur, with my lowly JD and my bachelor ways. Dude, you're making me look bad. Now I'm going to have to go back to school for another advanced degree and I'll have to start learning jujitsu. Er, okay, maybe the jujitsu thing won't work. Damn, I need to think about this some more.
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April 01, 2005
Ivory Tower
I've been giving some thought to drafting a proposal for a Law School seminar course on Disability, Law, & Ethics. The course would focus on the disability experience, the laws that have been created to recognize the right of people with disabilities to participate in everyday human pursuits, and the ongoing ethical and policy debates that surround issues of disability. I want students to examine issues like the continued economic marginalization of people with disabilities, despite laws like the ADA, Rehab Act, and others. I want to look at the the funding crises in Medicaid and Medicare in conjunction with the continued evolution of expensive assistive technology devices. And of course, something on the interplay between disability and the refusal of medical treatment. This would bear some resemblance to other disability studies courses, but with more of an emphasis on law and policy.
Maybe I can put something together to present to the Law School for a possible offering in Spring 2006. I'm open to any suggestions regarding themes, content, readings, etc. My cursory Google research hasn't revealed too many courses like this at other law schools. But if people have syllabi or course outlines that could be used as models for my own idea, I'd love to see them. I think this could be fun, assuming I actually follow through on my daydreaming.
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