Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Disability/Archive 4

Disability in Ukraine
I created the article Disability in Ukraine today in order to "deepen" the subjects about Ukraine on Wikipedia. Unfortunately I have not so much time and had great problems finding (English) sources on Google.... Any help on the article is thus very welcome! (Also I was very surprised that there are only a few "Disability in..." articles. I was expecting to atleast find Disability in Germany...) —  Yulia Romero  • Talk to me!  21:31, 21 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Hello Yulia and thanks for starting this article. Here is [//www.google.com/search?q=(disabled%2C+disability)+Ukraine a Search] which provides quite a few hits that might be useful. --Mirokado (talk) 23:03, 22 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Hi User:Yulia Romero - Sources do not need to be in English - I'm sure you will find more in Ukrainian than in English. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 07:43, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Thanks Mirokado & Roger (Dodger67). —  Yulia Romero  • Talk to me!  21:03, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Comment on the WikiProject X proposal
Hello there! As you may already know, most WikiProjects here on Wikipedia struggle to stay active after they've been founded. I believe there is a lot of potential for WikiProjects to facilitate collaboration across subject areas, so I have submitted a grant proposal with the Wikimedia Foundation for the "WikiProject X" project. WikiProject X will study what makes WikiProjects succeed in retaining editors and then design a prototype WikiProject system that will recruit contributors to WikiProjects and help them run effectively. Please review the proposal here and leave feedback. If you have any questions, you can ask on the proposal page or leave a message on my talk page. Thank you for your time! (Also, sorry about the posting mistake earlier. If someone already moved my message to the talk page, feel free to remove this posting.) Harej (talk) 22:47, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Comment requested on move of "caregiver"
Hello. "Caregiver" and "Caregiving" are Wikipedia articles on completely unrelated concepts. I am proposing that "Caregiving" be the article about caring for a person with an impairment and get both of these titles, and the academic concept currently at "caregiving" be disambiguated with a qualifier. I would appreciate comment at Talk:Caregiver. Thanks.  Blue Rasberry  (talk)  14:50, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

Disability in China
I am planning on starting a new page on Disability in China. There is barely any reference of these individuals in China on Wikipedia. I am using the "Disability in Australia" and "Americans with Disabilities" as guidelines for my page. I hope to organize the page with the following structure:

1 Prevalence

2 Trends

3 Law 4 Family
 * 3.1 One-Child Policy
 * 3.2 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

5 Education 6 Advocacy 7 Organizations 8 Sport
 * 5.1 Special-education system
 * 5.2 Access to higher education
 * 6.1 Deng Pufang
 * 7.1 China Disabled Persons’ Federation
 * 8.1 Asian Para Games
 * 8.2 Paralympics

If anyone has suggestions on organization or an interest on these issues, please let me know! I would appreciate any feedback! Thank you! -- Appleangel11 (talk) 15:05, 2 October 2014


 * Hi Appleangel11, I'm also drafting a similar article about South Africa - Draft:Disability in South Africa - see my post about it above. Perhaps we can share some ideas and help each other. Have you started a draft yet? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 21:33, 2 October 2014 (UTC)


 * Hello Roger (Dodger67)! Thanks so much for getting back to me! I looked over your draft briefly! What type of feedback exactly would you like me to give? I just finished mine and here is the link: Disability in China. Any comments would be appreciated! Thank you so much! Appleangel11 (talk) 15:11, 13 October 2014


 * Hi Appleangel11 - I've just given your article a quick look, made a few minor changes and created the necessary category for it. I like what you've done. Are you interested doing more of these country overview articles? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 12:17, 14 October 2014 (UTC)


 * Thanks so much Roger (Dodger67)! I will be revising the article more over the coming months :) I did this article as part of a class but I might be able to do more country overview articles once I have free time! Appleangel11 (talk) 20:29, 20 October 2014

Expert attention
This is a notice about Category:Disability articles needing expert attention, which might be of interest to your WikiProject. It will take a while before the category is populated. Iceblock (talk) 17:01, 28 October 2014 (UTC)


 * Thanks! I wish categories could be watchlisted... Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 08:42, 1 November 2014 (UTC)

Learning Disabilities
I'm planning to update Sexual_abuse_of_people_with_developmental_disabilities. We usually say "Learning Disabilities" not "Developmental Disabilities" in the UK. I'm planning to add this to the title, but I feel confused the terminology. Intellectual Disability appears to be a subsection of Developmental Disability, and the Learning Disability page links to Intellectual Disability "for general learning disability". Does anyone here know more than me about terminology for learning disabilities, so that I can use the right terms and links when I edit the page? Is there a need for some disambiguation around these terms, or is it just me?! Crinoline (talk) 22:28, 19 October 2014 (UTC)

I can see debate on terminology has been raging on the pages I mentioned. It seems from the discussion that not everyone with a Developmental Disability has a Learning Disability, but the article I want to edit focuses on people who may be more vulnerable because of "lack of understanding". Perhaps I should take "Developmental Disability" out of the title and pick one of the other terms? Crinoline (talk) 22:43, 19 October 2014 (UTC)


 * Hi Crinoline, Welcome to WikiProject Disability. Indeed the terminology is in flux, but it seems that Intellectual disability is the one you want. It is terribly unfortunate (IMNSHO) that "Developmental disability" is used as a synonym when the sensu strictu medical definition of developmental disability clearly and explicitly includes condition that do not have any intellectual component at all. In most of the English speaking world outside of the UK "learning disability" is narrowly defined to refer to issues specifically related to specific educational problems such as dyslexia or dyscalculia, not general intellectual impairment (low IQ etc). My brother has severe dyslexia but his IQ is significantly above average and I have a developmental disability, spina bifida, but my IQ is even higher than my brother's. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 08:52, 1 November 2014 (UTC)


 * Hi Roger (Dodger67), great to get a response, thanks! This whole area of terminology for learning difficulties / intellectual disability seems to be a complete minefield - when (if?) I complete my edit of the abovementioned article, I might make another one just about the terminology, including of course those who resist having a label slapped on in the first place.  In the meantime I agree that 'intellectual disability' is probably the right term for the article title, as it will be more universally understood, so thanks for that.  Now I have only to solve another problem, around the terminology for sexual abuse.  I've learned that some people don't like this term, as it is normally only used for children and disabled adults, while other terms like 'sexual violence' or 'rape' etc. are used for non-disabled adults.  I think there's a difficult balance to strike between using the most commonly used and globally understood terms and avoiding the use of discriminatory language.  As the article I'm editing concerns both adults and children, I think I'll stick with 'sexual abuse' and maybe make a note of alternative terminology within the article.


 * By the way, as you disclosed your disability, I will disclose my interest, which stems from me being an unpaid carer for many years, supporting someone with an (better get used to this) intellectual disability. I want to improve some of the pages because I know they often come up high on seach engine results, so for practical issues they need to contain useful information.  Crinoline (talk) 00:03, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Renaming Sexual_abuse_of_people_with_developmental_disabilities
I've started a discussion on the talk page of Sexual_abuse_of_people_with_developmental_disabilities, as I plan to change the article name to Sexual abuse and intellectual disability. Your comments there, if you have any issues with the name change, would be very welcome. Thanks for your help so far on the terminology issue. Crinoline (talk) 14:40, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Unusual file deletion discussion
A unique image file deletion discussion is currently being conducted at, which may be of interest to members of this WikiProject, and others with an interest in disabilities. (In particular, please see 2nd paragraph). CaesarsPalaceDude (talk) 08:08, 23 December 2014 (UTC)
 * CaesarsPalaceDude: You might bring this up at WP:WPACCESS and see if anyone there might chime in. - Purplewowies (talk) 05:37, 4 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the tip. CaesarsPalaceDude (talk) 05:59, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

Brief news article may be worth following up for sources for a variety of articles
I discovered this news article which itself doesn't contain much substance to use in articles but suggests the existence of a variety of sources that can be used to improve various articles ranging from the Americans with Disabilities Act to Disability art and others. However it requires someone familiar with researching news and other media in the US to dig up the good stuff, which unfortunately disqualifies me. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 07:24, 7 January 2015 (UTC)

WikiProject X is live!


Hello everyone!

You may have received a message from me earlier asking you to comment on my WikiProject X proposal. The good news is that WikiProject X is now live! In our first phase, we are focusing on research. At this time, we are looking for people to share their experiences with WikiProjects: good, bad, or neutral. We are also looking for WikiProjects that may be interested in trying out new tools and layouts that will make participating easier and projects easier to maintain. If you or your WikiProject are interested, check us out! Note that this is an opt-in program; no WikiProject will be required to change anything against its wishes. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!

Note: To receive additional notifications about WikiProject X on this talk page, please add this page to WikiProject X/Newsletter. Otherwise, this will be the last notification sent about WikiProject X.

Harej (talk) 16:57, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Created pages
I created WikiProject Disability/Collaboration (Project sub-page for collaboration on articles) and WikiProject Disability/Peer review (Project sub-page for peer review of articles). If anyone wants to be an Active Peer reviewer please let me know on my talk page. Thanks. Maranjosie (talk) 17:38, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

American Association of People with Disabilities
Perhaps this article should be marked as within the disability project? The association has a website, http://www.aapd.com/, and appears to be active. Our article is just barely a stub. Just FYI. --Hordaland (talk) 04:25, 2 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Good find, I've tagged it. Might be a good candidate for the newly created Collaboration process. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 10:01, 2 February 2015 (UTC)

WikiProject Disability listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect WikiProject Disability. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you have not already done so. –Be..anyone (talk) 14:18, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

IEP through schools
I would like to know what type of IEP should be placed in a school for a child with a sensorial hearing loss? What should the child be classified as? What type of IEP to help her with her education? What laws protect a child when a proper IEP isn't placed for a child with this type of hearing loss? Can my child be denied an amendment when asked; even though the grades are proficient? I am trying to get my child's IEP amended. Since kindergarten my child studied and studies really hard to keep a proficient grade in order to graduate and to be able to get accepted to a decent college. I have been so naive in asking questions, thinking that the school district had their best interests with my daughter's education. Please if anyone has answers to these questions, please help me with gathering information. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Daisyc34 (talk • contribs) 11:48, 15 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Hi Daisyc34, I'm sorry to hear about your problem but unfortunately we cannot help you - Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, we cannot give the kind of advice you need. You could perhaps look for a suitable support organization in your area/state. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 12:41, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

Dropping the Importance rating
Proposal - I think we should drop the Importance tag from our banner and article assessment system. It's been years since I have bothered to event try to give an article an importance rating and back then such decisions quite frequently cause conflict and unhappiness when (usually inexperienced) article contributors take offense at the "low" rating given. I've even been on the receiving end of rants such as: "HOW DARE YOU say "dreaded lurgy" is low importance! My grandmother, sister, two cousins and my own son died of it - YOU ARE A HORRIBLE PERSON!". No amount of explaining ever soothed any such complaints. We hardly ever apply the importance rating and we've never really made an effort to use it in a meaningful way to sort our articles, so I think we should simply remove it from our system. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 13:08, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

Removed unused Project sandbox
I have removed the Project's sandbox page as it has gone unused for a very long time. I have instead started tagging relevant draft articles in Draft-space with the project tag and transcluded a list of such drafts on the Project main page in a section titled "Disability related drafts". Please feel free to help write these draft articles so that they can be moved into mainspace. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 10:56, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

Task force
Does WikiProject Disability currently have a task force? If so can you please post a link to it here? Thanks! Maranjosie (talk) 14:50, 14 May 2015 (UTC)


 * @Maranjosie - No we don't currently have any task forces, we are too small a group to need to subdivide our activites like that. I once proposed starting a joint task force with WikiProject Medicine to co-ordinate our shared topics and articles but I got no takers from their end. If you have an idea for a task force please tell us. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 07:41, 17 May 2015 (UTC)

Inclusive Action wiki
Hi all - I was wondering if the WikiProject Disability community would be interested in collaborating on a wikipage (or pages) on ideas for practical action to include people with disability. For example in the areas of jobs, study, community access. Cheers, Fiona Optimistic Changemaker (talk) 03:49, 14 May 2015 (UTC)


 * @Optimistic Changemaker - That kind of content is actually not allowed on Wikipedia, see WP:NOTGUIDE and WP:PROMO. We can and do write neutral, descriptive articles about these issues, as well as the notable organisations and programmes that exist (or existed in the past) to address the issues, but we are not allowed to actively promote them or give readers direct advice. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 07:55, 17 May 2015 (UTC)

Series of "Disability in " articles
A handful of "overview" articles about disability in various countries have recently been created. See Template:Disability by country. I'd like to propose that this project makes it a priority to create such articles for as many countries as possible. The China, Australia, South Africa and Ukraine articles as quite well developed and so far have a fairly consistent content, which could serve as a "template" for others in the "series". The article about the US is different from the rest, it's older, very short and only really covers demographics. It was proposed to be merged into the ADA article a few years ago but didn't happen. I think it should be expanded and retitled similar to the others. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 09:40, 15 October 2014 (UTC)


 * I have started a new draft Draft:Disability in the United Kingdom - I would really appreciate some help with it. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 08:40, 1 November 2014 (UTC)


 * I will try and put in a few ideas about learning disability in the UK - probably just links in the first instance. Crinoline (talk) 00:05, 3 November 2014 (UTC)


 * I've been preoccupied with other matters for a while but now I'm ready to work on this again, who's with me? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 06:45, 14 January 2015 (UTC)


 * The series is slowly growing, please feel free to help. There are a few of these articles in Draft-space too - See Category:Draft-Class Disability articles - they are also "counted" in the "Statistics" table on the Project main page. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 19:08, 9 April 2015 (UTC)


 * I have expanded the Disability by country template to include all sovereign countries in the world, grouped by continental region. We must work towards turning as many as possible of those country names blue. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 08:02, 17 May 2015 (UTC)


 * Disability in Canada has been moved from Draftspace to Mainspace. It is a very brief stub that needs to be expanded. In fact all the "Disability in  articles are currently stubs that still need work. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 14:45, 17 May 2015 (UTC)

Disability during the Industrial Revolution
This BBC news article looks interesting - If further sources can be found we might have enough for a new article, or at least to add significant content to existing ones. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 07:23, 15 June 2015 (UTC)

Disability Editathon
I have heard from Penny Richards that a Disability Editathon might be happening sometime in June - in a just few weeks time. Further information will be posted as it becomes available. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 14:42, 17 May 2015 (UTC)


 * @Penny Richards - any news on this, is it happening or not? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 07:25, 15 June 2015 (UTC)


 * @Dodger67 - It didn't, but I still had the tentative date on my calendar, so I made a new entry for Dwight D. Guilfoil Jr. on that day; my one-woman Disability Editathon. ;) If we organize something, folks are definitely interested, they just couldn't fit the event into the busy schedule of the Society for Disability Studies annual meeting this past weekend.Penny Richards (talk) 15:54, 15 June 2015 (UTC)


 * @Penny Richards - I understand what you mean about the difficulty of fitting it into a larger event as a "sideshow". Perhaps we could arrange something with a university class or similar group. Maybe the Wiki Education Foundation could help us? I'm afraid this WikiProject is slowly decaying - for such a broad topic there is very little activity on this page. An "injection" of new participants through an editathon or class project would hopefully kick some new life into it. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 16:46, 15 June 2015 (UTC)
 * P.S. Idea! How about writing a short item about the Wikipedia and this Wikiproject for the Disability Studies Quarterly? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 17:02, 15 June 2015 (UTC)


 * All good ideas. I'm not an academic scholar and don't have students or space to hold an in-person event, but if someone picks a date and organizes something, even an online-only editathon, I'll be glad to publicize and participate. (Summer's not great for me to organize anything--kids home from school and all that.)Penny Richards (talk) 20:46, 15 June 2015 (UTC)

Copyright Violation Detection - EranBot Project
A new copy-paste detection bot is now in general use on English Wikipedia. Come check it out at the EranBot reporting page. This bot utilizes the Turnitin software (ithenticate), unlike User:CorenSearchBot that relies on a web search API from Yahoo. It checks individual edits rather than just new articles. Please take 15 seconds to visit the EranBot reporting page and check a few of the flagged concerns. Comments welcome regarding potential improvements. These likely copyright violations can be searched by WikiProject categories. Use "control-f" to jump to your area of interest (if such a copyvio is present).--Lucas559 (talk) 16:17, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

Interview for The Signpost
The WikiProject Report would like to focus on WikiProject Disability for a Signpost article. This is an excellent opportunity to draw attention to your efforts and attract new members to the project. Would you be willing to participate in an interview? If so, here are the questions for the interview. Just add your response below each question and feel free to skip any questions that you don't feel comfortable answering. Multiple editors will have an opportunity to respond to the interview questions, so be sure to sign your answers. If you know anyone else who would like to participate in the interview, please share this with them. Thanks,  Rcsprinter123    (visit)  @ 17:36, 21 June 2015 (UTC)


 * The article is at WP:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-07-01/WikiProject report. Unfortunately it received very little attention before or response after publication. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 09:30, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

New WikiProject!
In the spirit of WikiProject Autism and WikiProject Deaf, I have created Wikipedia:WikiProject Epilepsy. The goal will be document and improve anything and everything related to epilepsy, seizures and seizure diseases. Please join. :) Andrea Carter (at your service &#124; my good deeds) 00:05, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

Planning a virtual edit-a-thon to improve Justin Dart's article, August 30, 2015
Hi, staff from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (NMAH) would like to hold a virtual edit-a-thon on August 30th to add content and links to the article for Justin Whitlock Dart, Jr. to help expand disability-related information in Wikipedia. NMAH has some significant objects that Justin Dart donated and other content such as scans of his speeches, photos of objects, and images from the ADA25 celebration. I would appreciate the help of anyone interested in improving this article, and any feedback or suggestions you might have. Thank you! Uncommon fritillary (talk) 14:27, 13 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Hi Uncommon fritillary I've never heard of an edit-a-thon dedicated to only a single article. User:Penny Richards is our edit-a-thon specialist, though I'd be happy to help where/when I can. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 11:41, 17 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Funny this came up today, because I spent some pleasant time yesterday doing the TAFI (Today's Article For Improvement), which was soufflé--several folks working together to improve a single article on the same day. So that can certainly happen. But remember the "no original research" rule (WP:OR)--scans and photos of primary sources like letters or unpublished speeches might not be as helpful as imagined for the purposes of improving the Dart entry. I'm happy to help with the Dart entry, but I'd also be very happy to see the event expanded to include other disability content on Wikipedia--there's plenty of work to be done.Penny Richards (talk) 15:22, 17 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Yes indeed Primary material is of very limited value and remember that per WP:Verifiability anything cited must be accessible, either as an actual publication, or in a GLAM (gallery, library, archive, museum) collection that is open to the public. I hope this may be expanded to more articles and topics related to disability. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 16:27, 17 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Thank you very much for your comments and suggestions. I just created the Justin Dart virtual edit-a-thon event page today at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/DC/Justin_Dart_Jr._Virtual_Edit-a-thon_2015 . If you know of any related ADA25-themed articles that could use expanding or creating, please feel free to add them to the event page or suggest them to me to add. The National Museum of American History has made some photos and documents available on its Flickr site https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmuseumofamericanhistory/albums/72157657296517198/with/20825040086/ which includes some pdfs from publications for reference. I am curious how this event will turn out, especially since it was pulled together on short notice. In addition to Katherine Ott of NMAH, the organizers are from the National Council on Disability, the Executive Office of the President of the U.S., and Wikimedia DC. I think they'll be promoting the event well to their communities. Thanks again! Uncommon fritillary (talk) 22:40, 24 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Looks great, already facebooked and tweeted it, and added myself to the RSVPs, and added a couple topics to the list of possible new articles. I love edit-athons. Penny Richards (talk) 04:14, 25 August 2015 (UTC)

Scope of this project?
I have just added this project's tag to Chia Yong Yong. I hope this is correct? Ottawahitech (talk) 10:27, 5 September 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks, yes biographies are within scope, in fact they're a very large proportion of "our" articles. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 10:44, 5 September 2015 (UTC)

Rehabilitation Medicine
I am interested in adding the rehabilitation medicine category as a sub-category for disability. This would include many articles, so I wanted to get others' opinions, especially since I don't have much experience with how this sort of thing is carried out. Attaboy (talk) 02:30, 10 September 2015 (UTC)

Web Accessibility - topic for November 10 Tip-Of-The-Day
Greetings! On November 10, the Tip-Of-The-Day is about the web accessibility. The tip is Editing articles for web accessibility and includes a link to Wikipedia's web accessibility page.

This November 10 tip was recently added at the TOTD Schedule Queue and is also posted at the Tips library. Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 23:26, 30 September 2015 (UTC)

Improving "Social model of disability" and related articles
Hi all Robplatts posted the following on my talk page, I recommended raising the issue here to a broader interested audience, so here it is: Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 11:50, 8 October 2015 (UTC) I am new to Wikipedia and I now realise my attempt at editing the article on the social model of disability lacked evidence. I imagine this is the main reason my edits were not allowed?

I am concerned however, that they are some basic errors in the explanation of the meaning of indirect discrimination and in how the UK Equality Act provides protection for carers. The protection for carers under the Act only extends to direct discrimination and to harassment (Hainsworth v Ministry of Defence, 2014, Court of Appeal). Under the UK Act, carers cannot claim reasonable adjustments and they are not protected from indirect discrimination. Indirect discrimination occurs when an organisation applies a general provision, criterion or practice without realising that this will have a discriminatory effect in relation to a person with a protected characteristic (section 19, UK Equality Act).

It also seems strange to me that an article about the social model then leads the section about law and policy by discussing the UK legislation which is probably best described as a hybrid model.

Some jurisdictions believe it is unnecessary to provide a definition of disability within their discrimination legislation at all(the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and the Netherlands Equal Treatment Based on Handicap and Chronic Diseases Act, for example). Others define disability widely, without requiring an impairment to produce functional limitation and without needing the impairment to exist for a certain length of time. Jurisdictions which fall into this second category include, for example, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the Republic of Ireland. These forms of legislation allow tribunals and courts to have an initial focus on whether there is a prima facie case of discrimination to answer. Whereas, complainants under the UK Act have an additional burden of proving disability in accordance with the UK definition, before a court or tribunal is able to consider the alleged discrimination (except in cases concerning associative and perceived disability). There is evidence (American Bar Association Survey on court rulings and the UK's Legislation Monitoring Report) which demonstrates the difficulty which complainants have in establishing this proof.

These are really important issues which should be appreciated more widely. Please could you give me guidance on, or point me to where I can learn about, how to edit this article in the correct fashion. Best wishes Rob Robplatts (talk) 10:53, 8 October 2015 (UTC)


 * Hi Robplatts, you're touching on topics that are covered in various articles about disability discrimination, relevant legislation in various countries and perhaps even others. It doesn't seem to me to be all that directly relevant to the social model article, which is really about the social theory itself. I think we should take this discussion to the WikiProject Disability talk page so that other contributors may also participate. This is far broader and more interesting than just editing one article, I think your ideas can improve a bunch of articles.

Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 11:50, 8 October 2015 (UTC)


 * Pinging User:Penny Richards, User:Ottawahitech, User:Mirokado, User:LilyKitty, User:Hordaland, User:Crinoline. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 10:45, 10 October 2015 (UTC)


 * Just thought I would mention that according to Disability Discrimination Act 1995 it has been replaced by Equality Act 2010 (mostly). Ottawahitech (talk) 11:47, 10 October 2015 (UTC)


 * This is a coincidence. I was just now involved in a discussion in a closed Facebook support group and came to Wikipedia to cite "Social model of disability" in that discussion.  Bright red notice from Roger about being mentioned here.  From the (long) Facebook discussion:
 * V: [...] Although we do often suffer the rigid, judgmental, and unquestionably disparaging from [the self-righteous]. "I wouldn't be suffering if it weren't for your snarky, not-so-passive-aggresive comments," I want to say.
 * S: I agree. I don't feel like this is an illness. We just fall on the far end of [a] spectrum. However, I also understand that in order for us to get the legal protections we often need to get employers, schools, etc. to accommodate that variation, we must, for now, accept the label of "disorder."
 * V: Good point. So, really it's society's disorder in that it's so inflexible as to not utilize all the human capital available! [...]
 * [Me: comments about the Wikipedia articles Social vs. Medical model...]
 * V: I would think that [our disorders] are a combination in that they are medical in nature but largely able to be *fixed* or mitigated with social adjustments, but not medically.
 * So! The discussion is not restricted to Wikipedia; it is important to many.
 * My first reaction to this thread is that our new contributor Rob is knowledgable (etc.) and should be encouraged to become a Wikipedian!
 * Next, and related, I wholeheartedly agree with Roger that: "This is far broader and more interesting than just editing one article, I think your ideas can improve a bunch of articles." So this project page is the right place for a good discussion.
 * Hordaland (talk) 22:08, 10 October 2015 (UTC)
 * I agree that the subject is bigger than editing one article and am happy to contribute more widely. Parts of the social model article are factually incorrect and should be corrected. Additionally, there are points worth making about the inequity of including medical model definitions within disability discrimination legislation. This information could be included within the law and policy section of the existing article explaining how the initial focus of social model legislation(the alleged discrimination) differs from the initial focus of medical model legislation(whether complainant is qualified for protection) or it could be explained within a new section. Alternatively or additionally, the current medical model article could be expanded to include a law and policy section. Being new to Wikipedia I obviously need to understand more about the etiquette and process.  Should I begin by proposing corrections within the talk section of both articles? Robplatts (talk) 05:49, 11 October 2015 (UTC)
 * I think it's best to keep it all together here, and simply add a note to each affected article's talk page with a link back here. Because it's about multiple articles, splitting the conversation doesn't make sense, imho. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 11:01, 11 October 2015 (UTC)
 * @Robplatts - Are you going to start editing the article(s) soon? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 10:52, 13 October 2015 (UTC)
 * @User:Dodger67 Yes, I will start soon. Robplatts (talk) 12:13, 13 October 2015


 * @User:Dodger67, @User:Hordaland Hi both - Although my strength of knowledge lies more within legal definitions, I thought it logical to make a start on some changes to the introduction to the social model article. The main issue here is that it suggests the development of the social model came as a reaction to the dominant medical model. I think the evidence shows that its development came as a reaction from disabled people towards exclusionary and segregating societal attitude which often centered on functional limitation, rather than reaction to a medical model per se. Not sure the term "medical model" even existed 1n the 60s. So, I propose changing the assertion about a dominant medical model and also adding some detail about issues of segregation. I suggest a revised introduction could read as follows:

"Prior to the emergence of the social model of disability, understandings of disability were commonly based on either the requirement to accommodate need arising from loss or deprivation caused by individual functional limitation (welfare and charity interpretations), or based on fixing that individual limitation (medical and rehabilitation interpretations) (Barnes, Oliver and UPAIS).

The social model of disability identifies systemic barriers, negative attitudes and exclusion by society (purposely or inadvertently) that mean society can be the main contributory factor in disabling people. While physical, sensory, intellectual, or psychological variations may cause individual functional limitation or impairments, the social model proposes that these do not have to lead to disability unless society fails to take account of and include people regardless of their individual differences.

British disability activists (Paul Hunt and UPIAS) additionally argued that societal attitude, which included a perceived need to segregate some disabled people from mainstream society, led to oppression and feelings of low self esteem and worth amongst disabled people. Hunt further argues that some disabled people had not previously challenged these views on segregation because, as he explains, “Feeling excessively self-conscious we would like to bury ourselves in society away from the stares of the curious, and even the special consideration of the kindly, both of which serve to emphasize our difference from the majority”(“A Critical Condition”, Hunt,1966).

A social model understanding of disability widens responsibility for, and provides greater explanation of, the causes of disability and, at the same time, argues that physical and mental variation and difference should be valued and accommodated by society.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is based on a social model of disability and recognises within the preamble to the Articles of the Convention that: “disability is an evolving concept and that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.”

One thing about proposing edits in this way is that I can't see an easy way to contrast with the original - perhaps those of you with more technical ability might explain how this can be achieved. I will put a note and link in the talk section of the original article.

Thoughts? Robplatts (talk) 10:23, 14 October 2015 (UTC)


 * Medical model is one of those concepts, like scientific method, that has existed for far longer than it has had an explicit name. The term was first published in 1971. When did Hunt/Oliver/UPIAS first use the phrase "social model of disability"? The only way I know to see a side by side comparison of changes in a text on WP is after the edit is actually done - see WP:DIFF. I like what you've written above, IMHO it's a substantial improvement. I have done a little editing at Medical model of disability. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 11:29, 14 October 2015 (UTC)


 * I like Robplatts' approach as I'd prefer to see the 'social model' as a very necessary addition to the approach to the topic of disabilities, without appearing to disparage the 'medical model'; we're surely not saying that either 'model', alone, is sufficient.
 * The proposed text is IMO too long and detailed for an intro section. Citations are generally not required in the intro section, as anything in that section must in any case appear, usually in more detail, below - with source(s).
 * I see that we do have the article Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. I haven't read it yet and must dash right now.  --Hordaland (talk) 12:17, 14 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks both. Agree it needs cutting down and that some info can move elsewhere within the article. Roger - the term "Social model" was first published in 1983 by Mike Oliver - seemingly well after medical model first appeared.  However,  Oliver clearly attributes the concepts of the model to the work of both Paul Hunt and UPIAS in the 60s and 70s - he suggests he helped organize the ideas and gave the concept a name. Paul Hunt's essay from 1966 is well worth  a read if you haven't seen it before. Hordaland picks up an important point that most understandings of disability have their place. The medical model is rationally required when considering welfare and benefits, for instance. Whereas, in my opinion, it has no place in deciding who is granted protection from discrimination. Robplatts (talk) 15:22, 14 October 2015 (UTC)
 * To properly understand Medical model of disability one must first read Medical model which at its core, is simply the application of the scientific method to medicine. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 20:57, 14 October 2015 (UTC)
 * I'm struggling with the first sentence of the medical model of disability article "The medical model of disability is a sociopolitical model by which illness or disability...causes clear disadvantages to the individual." I believe there is general understanding that the medical model of disability is one which concentrates on the condition or illness of the individual and that one of the criticisms of this model is that it does not take into account social, or indeed political, factors. Secondly, the sentence proposes that "disability" causes disadvantage and I think this runs into problems with semantics when/if the UN Convention (social model) understanding of the word "disability" (barriers + impairments) is applied rather than the WHO understanding of the word. Personally I find the WHO explanations of the words disability, impairment and handicap theoretically useful, but this usefulness is limited in practice. The UN Convention does not recognise the word "handicap" and that term is seen as offensive in the UK. In my opinion, the medical model of disability article needs to explain how the model is sociopolitical and, in using the term "disability" it needs to be explicit about the meaning being applied to the word (UN or WHO definition). Robplatts (talk) 06:27, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

My latest suggested edits: I have shortened the introduction and moved some parts to the history section:

The social model of disability identifies systemic barriers, negative and oppressive attitudes and exclusion by society (purposely or inadvertently) that mean society can be a major, if not the main, contributory factor in disabling people. While physical, sensory, intellectual, or psychological variations may cause individual functional limitation or impairments, the social model proposes that these do not have to lead to disability unless society fails to take account of and include people regardless of their individual differences.
 * Introduction

The social model of disability is an evolving concept which, as interpreted by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, recognises an inherent and equal worth of the individual and embraces concepts such as, social inclusion, universal human rights, elimination of discrimination, universal design, society’s duty to accommodate, equality of opportunity, self-determination, respect for the individual experience of disability and for the dignity of the person.

History

Prior to the emergence of the social model of disability, understandings of disability were commonly based either on the requirement to accommodate need arising from loss or deprivation caused by individual functional limitation (welfare and charity interpretations), and/or on fixing that individual limitation (medical and rehabilitation interpretations) (Barnes, Oliver and UPAIS).

Through the work of British activists during the 1960s and 70s, the concept of society being a causal factor in disability took form. Early evidence of these ideas evolving can be seen in Paul Hunt’s essay of 1966, “A Critical Condition”.

Hunt’s essay suggested that societal attitude, which included a perceived need to segregate some disabled people from mainstream society, led to oppression and feelings of low worth and self-esteem amongst disabled people. Hunt further argues that disabled people had not previously challenged this segregation because, as he explains, “Feeling excessively self-conscious we would like to bury ourselves in society away from the stares of the curious, and even the special consideration of the kindly, both of which serve to emphasize our difference from the majority”.

In 1975, the UK organization Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS) claimed: "In our view it is society which disables physically impaired people. Disability is something imposed on top of our impairments by the way we are unnecessarily isolated and excluded from full participation in society."(cite minutes of meeting of UPIAS and Disability Alliance)

In 1983, the disabled academic Mike Oliver coined the phrase "social model of disability" in reference to these ideological developments.[4] Oliver focused on the idea of an individual model (of which the medical was a part) versus a social model, derived from the distinction originally made between impairment and disability by the UPIAS.[5]

The "social model" was extended and developed by academics and activists in Australia, the UK, US and other countries, and extended to include all disabled people, including those who have learning difficulties / learning disabilities / or who have mental handicap, or people with emotional, mental health or behavioural problems.[6][7]

Oliver did not intend the "social model of disability" to be an all encompassing theory of disability, rather a starting point in reframing how society views disability.

Further thoughts please? Robplatts (talk) 13:36, 15 October 2015 (UTC)
 * The medical model is not sociopolitical, it's a scientific model. The medical model's "observation > diagnosis > treatment > prognosis > observation" cycle is essentially identical to the scientific method's "observation > hypothesis > experiment > theory > observation" cycle. Indeed the "problem" from the disability rights pov is exactly that it does not take the sociopolitical into account. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 14:55, 15 October 2015 (UTC)


 * Excellent work! I'm glad to see these improvements.
 * Can society really be "the main contributory factor in disabling people" or maybe just "a main contributory factor"? (Don't change it just for my sake, though :) )
 * FYI: "Wikilinking" other articles within an article requires simply enclosing the title within double square brackets, for example Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation or, when there is only a single capital letter in a title, lower case also works:  disability.  --Hordaland (talk) 02:20, 16 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the tip.--Robplatts (talk) 05:10, 16 October 2015 (UTC)


 * @Roger (Dodger67) Thanks for your thoughts on the medical model article about socio-political, etc. So you agree this needs amendment too? I will now get on with improving the law and policy section of the social policy article but this might take a week or so as other. Robplatts (talk) 05:10, 16 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Hi Hordaland Good question about whether society can be the "main" factor. Early proponents of the model suggest that it is the only factor in disabling people with physical disabilities. This view was questioned by people like Barnes and Shakespeare and I think it was Shakespeare's contention that it was the the activist's dogged denial of impairment having anything to do with causing disability which actually devalued the geberal argument. I think you are right that the sentence needs rephrasing. Thanks - I have amended the above. --Robplatts (talk) 07:31, 16 October 2015 (UTC)

Deletion sorting list
A WP:Deletion sorting list for disability-related pages has been created. Please watch WP:WikiProject Deletion sorting/Disability and feel free to participate in deletion discussions relevant to this project. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 09:49, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

Disability Images
This is an informal request for input into how to proceed - an RfC for RfC if that's not too arcane. The issue follows from a live discussion at [|Images_of_CFS]. That discussion has referrenced WP:PERTINENCE and two FA articles Major_depressive_disorder and Schizophrenia, also of note is WP:MEDMOS which contains the text: Images should be chosen and located because they illustrate specific concepts described in the text they are attached to.

The representation of disability/and or disease is problematic and it's not clear where on Wikipedia this discussion can best be directed, nor in what context it can be most usefully be set. Suggestions on how to take this forward would be most welcome.

--In Vitro Infidelium (talk) 17:43, 26 October 2015 (UTC)

Moved this topic from WT:WikiProject Disability/Style guide because that page has very few watchers, this page has far more. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 18:57, 26 October 2015 (UTC)


 * Depicting inherently invisible conditions/impairments is very difficult, if not impossible. A person who has an invisible disability by definition does not look obviously different from unaffected people. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 19:04, 26 October 2015 (UTC)


 * Thank you for moving this to a more appropriate page. Is there a project page where guidance on "depicting inherently invisible conditions/impairments" could be clarified, as a reference point for editors ? Having FA status for Major_depressive_disorder and Schizophrenia has the potential for setting precedent for image use which would appear to be at odds with WP:PERTINENCE and WP:MEDMOS. The cautionary principle would seem most appropriate as the basis for judgement, if no image can certainly be attached to an article dealing with invisible conditions/impairments, then image use should be avoided. There is also an issue of balance, where conditions/impairments which have limited medical/scientific referenced imaging are left unillustrated in the medical/scientific sections of a WP article by dint of WP:MEDRS but social aspect related sections can be illustrated by use of unfiltered choices of image. I would interpret WP:PERTINENCE and WP:MEDMOS as already covering the issue of balance but that interpretation doesn't seem to be univerally accepted. --In Vitro Infidelium (talk) 13:28, 29 October 2015 (UTC)

Change to "Disability in the Media" page
Hi all! This is my first attempt at a Wikipedia change/addition as part of a Digital Media Literacy class at ASU. I have added the following to the list of stereotypes on the Disability in the Media page and would like some feedback, if possible:

"Asexual, undesirable, or incapable of sexual or romantic interactions (commonly associated with caucasian youth, examples include adolescent coming-of-age storylines such as Artie Abrams on Glee, and “teen sick-lit” such as The Fault in our Stars)"

I am currently in the process of a literature review of existing research on disability, sexuality, and media, and there is some documentation of stereotypes as I've noted, and for which I also provided a citation. I think much more information and subsections could be added to this page as there are a growing number of documented issues on disability in the media than noted on this Wikipedia page.

Thank you in advance!

DonnellProbst (talk) 21:14, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

Sexuality after spinal cord injury at Peer Review
I've requested Peer Review for Sexuality after spinal cord injury in hopes of getting it ready for an eventual FAC. If anyone can spare the time I'd love to get any feedback at Peer review/Sexuality after spinal cord injury/archive1.

Thank you! delldot  &nabla;.  21:26, 21 November 2015 (UTC)

Sexuality after spinal cord injury at FAC
I have nominated Sexuality after spinal cord injury for Featured article status. If you have time I hope you'll take a look and let me know what you think at Featured article candidates/Sexuality after spinal cord injury/archive1. Thank you! delldot  &nabla;.  20:38, 31 December 2015 (UTC)

Content donation of audio descriptions for blind and partially sighted people
VocalEyes has recently donated 40 audio descriptions. You can find them here https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Files_donated_by_VocalEyes Matthewcock (talk) 15:14, 18 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi Matthewcock - I took a look at the category, the content seems to be descriptions of notable places in England. The subject of this project is disability itself - we're not concerned with English landmarks, but WP:WikiProject England might find them useful. There is also a project that is concerned with the usability of Wikipedia itself, WP:WikiProject Accessibility - they might have a use for these recordings. What we (Wikipedia as a whole) actually need are recordings of people reading Wikipedia's best (featured) articles. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 16:18, 18 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks: you're right. I have posted this also in WP:WikiProject Accessibility talk and will take a look at WP:WikiProject England too. I appreciate that recordings of feature articles will be good, but don't they become out of date soon? Ensuring accessibility to screen-readers is potentially more useful? Matthewcock (talk) 16:53, 18 January 2016 (UTC)


 * @Matthewcock - Ensuring that articles are correctly formatted for screen readers is within the purview of WikiProject Accessibility. The FA standards do take it into consideration, but I have no idea how well it is enforced. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 20:30, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

China Disabled Persons' Federation
Hello all, I was looking around the Disability project and noticed that the China Disabled Persons' Federation could use some updates, copy editing, and should be connected to the Disabled Peoples' International page since they are apparently connected/ working together. Also, it would be good if everyone person listed had the Chinese Characters of their name next to them. It also needs a rating on the quality and importance scale. Thanks! Cdemac16 (talk) 16:05, 25 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Hi Cdemac16, you're more than welcome to do these improvements if you have the required sources. However imho the "importance" rating is rather pointless as it is based solely on subjective opinion. This project has seen several fights about importance ratings over the years, it's more trouble than it's worth, we don't actually use the importance tag for anything meaningful anyway. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 16:17, 25 February 2016 (UTC)

"Disability in " article series
Just a reminder to all that our project to create a "Disability in " article about every country in the world is still ongoing. See Template:Disability by country for the full list, many are still redlinks. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 14:49, 19 February 2016 (UTC)


 * I have started Draft:Disability in Japan, other editors are welcome to join me in creating the article. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 19:55, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Comment requested
Your thoughts are requested at WP:Village pump (idea lab). -- Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 16:12, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Thank you!  Eve rgr een Fir  (talk) Please &#123;&#123;re&#125;&#125; 21:36, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

Definition of Disabled
Home >   English Dictionary  >   disabled Your search found: disabled  disable  Usage examples Trends Definitions of disabled disabled (dɪˈseɪbəld  ) Definitions adjective lacking one or more physical powers, such as the ability to walk or to coordinate one's movements, as from the effects of a disease or accident, or through mental impairment (as collective noun; preceded by the)  ⇒ the disabled

verb (used with object), disabled, disabling. 1. to make unable or unfit; weaken or destroy the capability of; incapacitate: The detective successfully disabled the bomb. He was disabled by the accident. 2. to make legally incapable; disqualify.

We have now two totally different definitions of the word disabled. One is used for objects and the other people. The definition for humans is at best demeaning. The definition for objects, when spilling over into the general perception of the word, is highly inaccurate and insulting.

Matthew Peterson86.182.217.195 (talk) 18:59, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

Mentioning bipolar diagnosis in BLPs
Please comment at WT:Biographies of living persons. —PermStrump ( talk )  16:49, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

Missing article
I just created ParaTranspo as a redirect after finding out to my amazement that there was no article on the subject on wikipedia. I hope someone here will be interested in changing this status quo. Ottawahitech (talk) 14:04, 16 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Is it a company? It looks like it's only available in Ottawa. —PermStrump  ( talk )  14:14, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Poor formatting
On https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Braille_Code, the tables are so poorly formatted that it is very difficult to tell which row the dots are in, unless all four rows are occupied. Perhaps the dots which are off could be represented by circles?

RichMorin (talk) 17:44, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Wikivoyage
I wonder whether anyone here would be interesting in voy:en:Wikivoyage:Travellers' pub.

I'm finding that it's a lot of fun to edit Wikivoyage. If you're interested, they also accept pages on travel-related advice to particular types of readers, e.g., a page on advice for autistic travelers. WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:19, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

Substantial Gainful Activity Page is Outdated
Substantial Gainful Activity Page is vastly outdated. No one loses benefits anymore just for two months of SGA. It's a very complicated three step process that spans years. It's too long to describe in a brief comment here, but phase 1 is a trial work period, to achieve SGA 9x over 5 years. Phase 2 is any month over SGA the individual does not receive a check. That can go on 3-5 years until a steady pattern is established of SGA, showing reliable capability. Phase 3 is phasing out and ending SSDI. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:1C0:CA00:25ED:51B2:5083:7BBF:ABE4 (talk) 20:09, 27 July 2016 (UTC)
 * Do you have a source handy? I'll look at it in a little bit unless... you want to have a go at editing. :) —PermStrump  ( talk )  04:27, 28 July 2016 (UTC)

Para-athletes at able-bodied nationals
-- 65.94.171.217 (talk) 07:11, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

Disability in Popular Culture
Disappointed to see there is no "Disability in Popular Culture" on the main Disability page, has anyone thought to add one? I was going to do it myself but thought it presumptuous.

Some candidates I can think of for addition would include films such as:

"Children of a Lesser God" "Miracle Worker" "My Left Foot" "Born on the Fourth of July" "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" "The Best Years of Our Lives" "The Elephant Man" "Scent of a Woman"

"Glee" "Breaking Bad" "My Name is Earl" "Born this Way" "Push Girls"

"Lives Worth Living" "Murderball" "Emmanuel's Gift" "Marwencol" "Blindsight" "Shooting Beauty" "Right Footed" "Miss You Can Do It" "A Brave Heart" — Preceding unsigned comment added by CaptAubrey (talk • contribs) 20:46, 11 October 2016 (UTC)


 * First read "In popular culture" content and then see Disability culture, Disability in the media and Disability in the arts. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 20:39, 13 October 2016 (UTC)

San Francisco State University opening access to library resources for Wikipedian interested in disability studies
See the post on the Wiki Education Foundation blog about this opportunity. Graham 87 12:41, 30 September 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks,.
 * Just to elaborate on this a bit, the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University (SFSU) wants to help an experienced Wikipedian improve the quality of articles relevant to disability studies, focusing on non-medical aspects of disability and important historical moments in disability history (in the United States or elsewhere in the world).
 * SFSU will provide full access to its library's resources (databases, ebooks, etc.) in exchange for a commitment to bring some of the articles you work on to B-class or better. This is a remote Wikipedia Visiting Scholars position open to editors anywhere. For more information see the SFSU Visiting Scholars page. If you have questions, you can ask on my talk page (or email if you prefer). If you know you're interested, head to the application form. --Ryan (Wiki Ed) (talk) 17:44, 5 October 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks, and  for alerting us about this.  I believe this is right up your alley. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 19:41, 28 October 2016 (UTC)
 * It would be! Right now I have pretty good university library access. And I'm hoping a disabled editor will take the opportunity. But if nobody else is interested, I'd gladly do it, it's a nice gig.Penny Richards (talk) 19:45, 28 October 2016 (UTC)
 * I wonder if you might be interested? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 20:20, 28 October 2016 (UTC)
 * I actually applied a few weeks ago for this. They were concerned with the number of edits I have completed not being enough to fully appreciate the community and to be completely effective in regard to quality. It would be a great gig since I am passionate about disability, and I did just officially lose my university access last night. Thank you for bringing my attention to this! I do hope to help where I can regardless of the outcome though. Jackiekoerner (talk) 20:31, 28 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Tell them you have the backing of Wikiproject Disability to help with any issues that may arise out of your lack of editing experience - I will commit to mentoring you if that would help you get in to the project, I'll be running for admin soon. I have the Wikipedian experience but not the academic qualification needed for this. BTW I've just found the slideshow of your dissertation defense, I would love to read the full thesis. It's bedtime at this end, I will be back in about nine hours. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 20:48, 28 October 2016 (UTC)

A Wiki Ed class is working on Special education
Wiki Ed/Canisius College/EDU122 (Spring 2016) is going to be working on the Special education article. Please keep an eye on it help the student(s) where needed. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 20:46, 29 October 2016 (UTC)

The "Disability in " article series is still an ongoing project
Just a reminder to all that our project to create a "Disability in " article about every country in the world is still ongoing. See Template:Disability by country for the full list, most are still redlinks so if you're looking for something to do, pick one. Also check the list of current drafts on the main page for work in progress and feel free to contribute. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 21:26, 1 November 2016 (UTC)

Debra Ruh
Hello,

I am working on an article that I am hoping to save from deletion. It looks like it had editors with close relationships working on the article and there were a number of issues. Someone worked to clean it up to bring it to a good starting point, and then it was nominated for deletion. I think Ruh's done some extraordinary work and has had a national and international presence. One of the issues is that she's received a lot of awards - but there are so many in the article, I think it likely obscures the most notable awards.


 * Request: It would really help if someone could take a look at the article and let me know what might be the most notable awards - I've been working to integrate them into the article. So there are a few in the body of the text, like one from the Department of Labor.

Of course, any other comments you may have would be appreciated, too. For instance, if you do not think that she passes WP:GNG, that would be helpful information.-- CaroleHenson (talk) 23:17, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

2016 Community Wishlist Survey Proposal to Revive Popular Pages
Greetings Members!

This is a one-time-only message to inform you about a technical proposal to revive your Popular Pages list in the 2016 Community Wishlist Survey that I think you may be interested in reviewing and perhaps even voting for:


 * Fix and improve Mr.Z-bot's popular pages report

If the above proposal gets in the Top 10 based on the votes, there is a high likelihood of this bot being restored so your project will again see monthly updates of popular pages.

Further, there are over 260 proposals in all to review and vote for, across many aspects of wikis.

Thank you for your consideration. Please note that voting for proposals continues through December 12, 2016.

Best regards, — Delivered: 17:58, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

Kingsley C. Dassanayake
Kingsley C. Dassanayake is up for deletion, please help improve the article if you can. Thank you!--Kintetsubuffalo (talk) 13:26, 19 December 2016 (UTC)
 * The result was Keep. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 11:55, 17 January 2017 (UTC)

Looking for a collaborator reasonably fluent in Spanish
I'm working on Draft:Disability in Peru but I'm limited to using only sources in English. If you know Spanish perhaps you can help find and use sources published in Peru itself. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 21:34, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm still looking for someone fluent in Spanish. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 13:37, 2 February 2017 (UTC)

IdeaLab Submission
Hey all. FYI I submitted our project to get more disabled artists on Wikipedia as an IdeaLab proposal here

I've yet to have any responses. I intimated that WikiProject: Disability might be involved if it went ahead. JTdisabilityartsonline (talk) 11:56, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

Help wanted from experienced Wikipedians for pages on disabled artists
Hi WikiProject Disability!

The organisation I work for, Disability Arts Online has been running a series of Wikipedia Editathons over the last 18 months. In total we have hosted four editathons in London, UK with the help of Wikimedia UK. The express intention of these editathons was to address the dearth of disabled artists (from all art forms) on Wikipedia. Disabled artists are massively under-represented in wider society compared to non-disabled counterparts and also tend to get much less mainstream media coverage - which means making watertight Wikipedia articles on them can be difficult. Which puts us in something of a Catch 22 situation.

We have invested an enormous amount of time in this project and in trying to facilitate others to get to grips Wikipedia. Unfortunately, the project as a whole has been very, very slow to progress and we have met numerous challenges. The first big challenge is that using Wikipedia can be quite a big barrier for a lot of people, especially those who also have the extra challenge of various impairments. The code-heavy system has put off a lot of our participants.

But, more importantly, is the challenge we have had with pages either not passing moderation or being retrospectively deleted. Perhaps as many as 90% of the pages created have been deleted or not passed the 'notability' test. The latter is particularly frustrating as we have specifically chosen disabled artists who are notable and do have some sort of profile in mainstream media/sources.

Here is a list of some of pages we have had successfully published

Sue Austin Tony Heaton Rachel Gadsden Kaite O'Reilly

Here are two drafts that were recently refused: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Jamie_Beddard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Allan_Sutherland

I feel the refusal on Jamie is particularly harsh as there are a number of BBC sources, a Telegraph article speaking in glowing terms and a Guardian article acknowledging his impact on another professional. Allan Sutherland has also written for BBC and Channel 4 regularly and is one of the top academics on the field of disability studies.

We would really appreciate the support of Wikiproject Disability in helping improve our pages, but also in helping mediate with the Editors who seem overly keen to deny or retrospectively delete. Our intention is not to flood Wikipedia with obscure entries about little-known individuals. We are trying to make Wikipedia a more vibrant and inclusive community and to raise the profile of some very notable disabled artists. JTdisabilityartsonline (talk) 13:47, 2 February 2017 (UTC)
 * I will have a go at the two drafts. I'm an experienced new article reviewers so I am very familiar with the standards. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 13:52, 2 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank you Roger for offering to take a look. It's been good for Wikimedia UK to support the editathons with Disability Arts Online because it is a typically under-represented area and a step towards getting enthusiastic new editors. Please let me know if I can help. Richard Nevell (WMUK) (talk) 12:11, 8 February 2017 (UTC)

Perhaps some attention should be paid to artists who are not contemporary. For example, the well-established article on the writer and clip-out artist Hans Christian Andersen of Denmark is said to have had dyslexia, while this is not mentioned in our article about him. I've read that cleaning up his handwritten manuscripts was demanding. (Perhaps there's been discussion of posthumous diagnoses -- I haven't checked.)

I've visited the museum in Odense where the collections of his clip-outs are impressive. The man was definitely more than "just" an author. --Hordaland (talk) 07:40, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

Feedback on new draft: Jess Thom
Hi all,

Started a new draft page on comedian and theatre-maker Jess Thom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Jess_Thom

I'd appreciate any feedback before submitting it. --JTdisabilityartsonline (talk) 10:08, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

CP Games rename
It's been suggested that CP Games be renamed, please join the discussion at Talk:CP Games. Le Deluge (talk) 18:18, 28 February 2017 (UTC)

Editor needed
Any good editor here willing to work with a student and draft now at Talk:Slavery in the United States? Perhaps it's own article/with summary in the main article? Thanks! Alanscottwalker (talk) 14:33, 2 December 2016 (UTC)
 * @User:Alanscottwalker The references in the "draft" you've linked are borked. The version at User:Yusrao/sandbox has proper references, so that is the proper draft to work on. The sources look good so an article should be possible. The current draft is too "chatty" and informal, killing the waffle and tightening up the language would probably produce an acceptable article. I'd be happy to assist User:Yusrao if you are not able to. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 01:40, 4 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I would leave it to you. Alanscottwalker (talk) 01:48, 4 December 2016 (UTC)
 * please indicate your acceptance or refusal of this offer of assistance here. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 19:46, 4 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Did anything ever happened with this? I have some info to add about slavery and disability but would like to know if this student is still interested in adding a section. Thanks! Jackiekoerner (talk) 21:13, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
 * , unfortunately no progress at all, has not edited any page on WP since 30 November, even before this topic was started. The retention rate for student editors is very low. Most student editors simply disappear abruptly when their project/course ends, even if their drafts are far from complete. Short version: Please feel free to take over the lead in working on the topic. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 20:26, 28 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Sounds good,, I'll get to work then. Jackiekoerner (talk) 21:01, 28 February 2017 (UTC)

Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Can someone please explain to me how Generalized anxiety disorder fits within the scope of your WikiProject? As someone with generalized anxiety disorder I find this kind of offensive. It's ridiculous, I would like an explanation, please. ThatGirlTayler (talk) 20:11, 31 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Hi, see criterion D in Generalized anxiety disorder which states: "The anxiety, worry, or physical symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning." There is also a sourced statement in the lead saying that it is the most common cause of workplace disability in the United States. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 21:41, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Visiting Scholar to tackle disability topics
Hi friends! I am the Visiting Scholar with San Francisco State University and the Wiki Education Foundation. My task is to help adjust existing bias in regard to disability in culture and history on Wikipedia. I thought I would share my topic list in case anyone would like to join me in the creation or editing. I'm glad for topic suggestions too!

Legal: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, Cherry v. Matthews, Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, Olmstead v. L.C., Revolutionary War Pension Act, Randolph-Sheppard Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Smith Fess Act, Sutton v. United States, Ugly laws, law and disability

People: Jacob Bolotin, Edmund Booth, Robert Burgdorf, Kitty Cone, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John Flournoy, Dr. Isabel Grant, Evan Kemp, Jr., Paul K. Longmore, Newell Perry, Jacobus Tenbroek, Junius Wilson, Irving Kenneth Zola

Groups and organizations: American Council of the Blind, Blinded Veterans Association, Disabled in Action, Easter Seals, League of the Physically Handicapped, Muscular Dystrophy Association, National Association of Retarded Children, National Organization on Disability, Rolling Quads

Miscellaneous topics: occupation of the Federal Office Building (San Francisco, California), Ancient world and disability, cinema/film and disability, disability in the Middle Ages, Disability rights movement (especially UK section), Education (K-12) and disability, Ellis Island and disability, Freak shows, Independent Living Movement history, higher education and disability, Miss Deaf America, Nazis and disability, slavery and disability, Telethons pertaining to disability, theater and disability, universal design theory, violence and disability, wheelchair, World War I and disability, material of activists for Commons.

I'd love to have you tell me your thoughts and would like to collaborate on these subjects with you. Thanks! Jackiekoerner (talk) 22:18, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Welcome! Maybe make these into redlists (link all the topics with double brackets, so we'll see the ones without articles in red, and they'll turn to blue as articles are created)--that'll help folks notice what's needed, in real time. Also, it looks like these are mostly US topics, and mostly 20c.--can you clarify if that's your emphasis, so we know what kinds of suggestions to add? - Penny Richards (talk) 23:18, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Also don't forget the list we generated for the Dart Editathon a couple years ago--lots of topics suggested there that still don't have articles. - Penny Richards (talk) 23:23, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Created redlinks for articles not yet created - can't wait to make them blue! Some I did not make wikilinks as they are so broad they might be represented many places.


 * The topics don't have to specifically focus on any particular area or time. The focus is to just get the history and culture out there for the people to consume. Jackiekoerner (talk) 00:27, 16 February 2017 (UTC)


 * Hello! I would add my voice to concern about non-US topics. It might be worth considering starting pages on "Disability rights in country" pages or standardizing on "Disability in country" articles. Disability rights in New Zealand already exists. So do Disability in China, South Africa, Australia, Canada, North Korea, Russia, Northern Ireland, the United States and others. Template:Disability by country shows many red links. Trankuility (talk) 21:38, 16 February 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks, Trankuility. I'll be sure to add that to the list. I do hope someone gets a start ahead of me or joins me once I do get to creating those, because that's such a big project just in itself! Jackiekoerner (talk) 22:40, 19 February 2017 (UTC)


 * The "Disability in " series of articles is a project I started some time ago. I hoped more people would participate, but progress has been very slow, partly because I'm busy with many other topics, and very few others have participated, so far. Most of the existing articles need to be expanded, many are stubs. Disability in South Africa is currently the best developed of them (due to my personal systemic bias), but even it lacks a section on culture. The intention is that each of the articles briefly summarizes the full spectrum of disability-related topics in each country - with each section potentially, or already, linked to a "main article" on each topic. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 21:02, 28 February 2017 (UTC)


 * , I'm particularly concerned that articles that (will) rely heavily on non-English sources will not get written or remain stubs for a long time. See, for example, my request at the (current) first topic on this page for help with Spanish. Various requests for help at various country wikiprojects have received no constructive responses. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 21:56, 28 February 2017 (UTC)

Welcome. You're taking on a huge & varied topic. It's a most worthwhile area for a "visiting scholar" to Wikipedia. My own "little" concern in all this is the common equation "disability = visable disability". To overstate: "Disabled people are hampered (/excluded) by stairs". It ain't that easy, of course, and it's a pitfall to avoid. Let me know if you think I can be of help. --Hordaland (talk) 20:57, 16 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Oh, totally! I'm actually presenting at an international conference in March about attitudinal bias about disability in career, and it focuses greatly on invisible disabilities. Many times the invisible disabilities are overlooked even when people are self-advocating for their needs.


 * I will make an effort to be sure to be broad in the information pertaining to disability. Please feel free to direct me to information or gaps where you find them. Jackiekoerner (talk) 21:06, 16 February 2017 (UTC)

Hi Friends! I just created a page for the 504 Sit-ins that occurred across the United States in April 1977 to push regulations for the Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. It's titled 504 Sit-in. Please go check it out and edit freely! Best, Jackiekoerner (talk) 20:32, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

Proposal to remove the Importance parameter from the project banner and the article assessment system
In my opinion the importance rating of articles is of little to no actual value in managing and monitoring the quality of articles in the purview of this WikiProject. The rating is entirely subjective and usually the decision of a single editor. It has in the past caused unhappiness and even heated disputes as some people feel that a low rating is actually dismissive of, or insulting to, the article subject and conversely that high ratings are often not sufficiently justified. So I propose to remove the Importance rating from the project banner and article assessment tables. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 17:53, 16 May 2017 (UTC)

Popular pages report
We – Community Tech – are happy to announce that the Popular pages bot is back up-and-running (after a one year hiatus)! You're receiving this message because your WikiProject or task force is signed up to receive the popular pages report. Every month, will post at /Popular pages with a list of the most-viewed pages over the previous month that are within the scope of. We've made some enhancements to the original report. Here's what's new:
 * The pageview data includes both desktop and mobile data.
 * The report will include a link to the pageviews tool for each article, to dig deeper into any surprises or anomalies.
 * The report will include the total pageviews for the entire project (including redirects).

We're grateful to for his original, and we wish his bot a happy robot retirement. Just as before, we hope the popular pages reports will aid you in understanding the reach of, and what articles may be deserving of more attention. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at m:User talk:Community Tech bot.

Warm regards, the Community Tech Team 17:16, 17 May 2017 (UTC)

The "Disability by country" article creation project seems to have stalled
See the many redlinks in the Disability by country navbox, please help to turn them blue. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 13:06, 30 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Progress is slow. If anyone is competent in Spanish please help expand Draft:Disability in Peru and then move on to other Spanish-speaking countries that are redlinks in the Template:Disability by country navbox. Examples of fairly well developed articles in this "series" are Disability in Australia and Disability in South Africa, please use them as "templates" for further articles in the series. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 18:33, 30 May 2017 (UTC)

Merge Proposal (Medical Model merge into Medical Model of Disability)
Hi all, I am working on Medical model of disability and the article has a wiki-link back to this article. It seems like this article titled "Medical model" is really the "Medical model of disability". I propose "Medical model" be merged into "Medical model of disability". Am I wrong are they two different models? If not, thoughts on merging? Jackiekoerner (talk) 20:40, 6 June 2017 (UTC)


 * The Medical model is the general case, it describes how modern medicine works - the observation-diagnosis-treatment-observation cycle. For example the medical model for treating a sore throat is to take a look at the throat, take note of the symptoms the patient reports, use that information to determine a cause (identify the bacteria), apply the body of pharmaceutical research to decide on an appropriate medication, give the patient the medication, observe the effect of the medicine on the symptoms, and so on.... The Medical model of disability describes how the medical model is applied to disability. Critics of course maintain that it is misapplied because disability is fundamentally different from disease or injury. The medical model maintains that the solution lies in treating the patient, which works well for disease and injury, but because disability has social aspects outside of the narrow field of medicine it is inadequate.


 * Short answer - please don't merge. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 09:07, 9 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Ok, so perhaps both articles just need a little more love in regards to content, clarification, and sources. I'll start back in on this on Monday when I get back home. Jackiekoerner (talk) 14:28, 10 June 2017 (UTC)

Travel advice
voy:Travellers with disabilities needs good, basic advice. I'm certain that anyone who has thought about disability issues could improve this article. voy:Wikivoyage:Welcome, Wikipedians has a quick overview of how to edit there, if you're new to Wikivoyage. WhatamIdoing (talk) 00:51, 21 July 2017 (UTC)
 * I'll take a look though it's not really a topic I'm all that familiar with. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 11:42, 27 July 2017 (UTC)

New draft
I've just started Draft:Disability and women's health. I've rounded up a bunch of sources so far, the indented ones are not freely available so I've requested copies at WP:RX. Please feel free to participate in writing the article. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 18:01, 29 July 2017 (UTC) ,, , rounding up the "usual suspects" Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 18:06, 29 July 2017 (UTC)
 * I'd be happy to take a look. :) Megalibrarygirl (talk) 18:21, 29 July 2017 (UTC)
 * I think I've found sufficient sources to at least get started. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 19:49, 29 July 2017 (UTC)

Draft:Dignity of risk
I have started the draft, please feel free to participate in developing it further. I have posted a list of sources that I can share on the draft's talk page. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 10:23, 2 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Hi u|Dodger67! What are your thoughts on including references to Daniel Kish and World Access for the Blind in the article? Jackiekoerner (talk) 22:08, 3 May 2017 (UTC)
 * , I've read both articles, but I have no idea how either subject fits into the dignity of risk concept. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 18:16, 6 May 2017 (UTC)
 * , Daniel Kish has been an advocate for people with disabilities, specifically blind people, experiencing the world without boundaries. So I guess he and his organization are examples of the direct opposite of this! If it's not appropriate or doesn't fit, that's fine. Just trying to wiki-link more of the world together.Jackiekoerner (talk) 19:31, 6 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Practically every disability advocate and organisation in some way touches on the dignity of risk concept, even when they never use the actual term. I'm just not seeing anything that makes this one a particularly salient example. I don't understand what you mean by "opposite". The opposite of dignity of risk is denial of choice, overprotection, institutionalization, etc. which certainly does not apply to Kish or his organization. BTW the organization article has problematic promotional tone. The inclusion of a section about the vision of an organisation is a huge warning sign. The only time the vision is worth mentioning in a WP article is when independent reliable sources have actually discussed it. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 20:02, 6 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Dignity of risk is now in mainspace. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 10:38, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

Name change for Institution
Hello,

I am a representative of the The New York Institute for Special Education. I have made a few edits, but the name is still appearing as "The New York Institute for the Blind". I was hoping that this could be rectified immediately. I am having trouble navigating the back end, as far as the title of the page.

This institute has been around since 1831. So, to avoid any confusion we would like to see the proper name displayed for anyone seeking out historical or background information.

Thank you,

-Chris — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.38.127.44 (talk) 12:48, 14 August 2017 (UTC)
 * The name of the page can't be changed easily, but it looks like there's a redirect, and the current name is in the first line. That'll make it findable. -Penny Richards (talk) 19:24, 21 August 2017 (UTC)

Creation of Disability in Zimbabwe
I have created a new article related to disability in a particular country and I need help from fellow Wikipedians as well to improve the quality of this article.Well if the article that I created is unacceptable I will apologies for it.I have also created a draft page related to this. Draft:Disability in Zimbabwe and you can mention your feedback.Thank you.Abishe (talk) 07:05, 22 August 2017 (UTC)
 * I have done some copyediting to improve the language and clarify some of the content. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 08:57, 22 August 2017 (UTC)