cross cultural disability issues, a dinner to catch up from 25 years and weekend luncheons!

I nearly missed the train to Paris this Tuesday. However the SNCF staff at Strasbourg came up trumps - they got me on the train. I am supposed to be there half an hour before the train is due out but one thing or another I was delayed. And I had not got my ticket yet! Chapeau SNCF, Strasbourg! There is a lot of work at Paris Gare de l'Est though and the one and only ramp was blocked and I had to ask a passerby to help me off the pavement.

I did not manage to go to last week's CNAM class because I was too tired and I wished I did because apparently Henri Jacques Stiker spoke about French disability militantism. This week Cathy Kudlick gave a talk on American disability movement and birth of disability culture. There was a discussion on a conference in Lyon on disability. Cathy wanted to know if there were any participants with disabilities and soon, we were discussing the difference between Anglo Saxon/ American take on this type of event where the French had a series of experts on the topic the Americans, for example, it would not have been acceptable if people with disabilities did not play a significant part in the proccedings. Some of the class think that able bodied people should have equally valid say in these matters since they are qualified such as social workers. Cathy thinks this is a fundamental difference with the Frech outlook on this system. I think the three of us who have disabilites (one in wheelchair, one with hearing problems and the other with low vision) feel things should be different. I think it is not so much a French cross cultural difference as it is an ability cultural difference. The way able bodied folk understand disabilities rather than how the disabled viewed it.

I had a dinner appointment with Hong Moon from Convent School days. I saw on our alumni e-mail list that she was in Paris and I had rang her on impulse. She married a Frenchman and has lived in France for the last 20 years. She is now an architect and has 2 sons. We agreed to meet at the Gare de L'Est and set off from there. We ended up eating choucroute in an Alsatian restaurant nearby. It was good to catch up on news, it was so French for us to end up with a discussion with her complaining about the French tax system!

On the way back to the station, my other access was blocked off by the police. We had to ask another passser by to help me get back into the station. Apparently they had somebody with left luggage. I got onto my train without much more mishap. My Invacare chair has a Recaro seat which reclines, I had a great comfortable position on the first class compartment on the overnight train and slept very well.

This week was certainly a week of eating well. I also met up with Barbara for lunch out on Friday and I had a party of 7 for Saturday lunch and 8 for Sunday lunch. I made my mother's mint with egg drop soup and her pork patties with a chanterrelle mushrooms sauce nad beef rendang. On Sunday, the Goreys came and we had Cantonese fried rice with grilled chicken and sauce. Mark made brownies and brought Haagen Daz ice cream for dessert. Luckily for me., the guests stayed back to wash up both times.

Comments

[Peter Kirra]

I was interested in the comment:"it would not have been acceptable if people with disabilities did not play a significant part in the proccedings".
I wonder how the different approaches impact, or does it simply mean inclusion as lipservice. Is this more effective, has the American approach resulted in further progress than the French?