Open letter: Temple Grandin should not be invited to speak at the Atlantic Abilities Conference
Alex Kronstein is asking organizers of this September’s Atlantic Abilities Conference to uninvite keynote speaker Temple Grandin. Here is why.
Autism and how to be a #RealAgentofChangeNS
Alex Kronstein on the #AgentofChangeNS campaign by Autism Nova Scotia. Although well intended, it does not go far enough, he suggests. In order to be a real “agent of change”, he lists many other things that radical activist autistics would recommend as well.
Autism awareness or acceptance? Two very different mindsets
Frequent contributor Alex Kronstein on autism awareness vs autism acceptance. “Many autistic people, myself included, find the traditional “awareness” campaigns to be insufficient and harmful, because the effect of autism “awareness” is that is ends up promoting fear and stigma against us, and encourages non-autistic people to think about ways they can make us more “normal” or pass as non-autistic.”
Review: Two board games Father Moses Coady would like (and John Risley would hate)
Alex Kronstein reviews two board games rich people are bound to hate. He looks at Co-opoly, think Monopoly for people who rather cooperate than compete. Next he looks at Rise Up: The Game of People and Power, where the purpose is to build a social movement and beat an oppressive system. To cover the Nova Scotia angle for this review Alex also looks at Father Moses Coady of Antigonish, the founder of the cooperative movement and the main reason there are still so many co-ops of all sorts in Nova Scotia.
Book Review: A is for Activist, and Counting on Community –two children books by Innosanto Nagara
Contributor Alex Kronstein reviews two children books for little kids with an activist bend.
Neoliberalism 101
Neoliberalism is a word you may well have heard at a rally or read in a newspaper, but what does it mean? Frequent contributor Alex Kronstein on all you ever wanted to know about neoliberalism but were afraid to ask. Turns out you knew its meaning all along.
The autism research that’s really needed
Frequent contributor Alex Kronstein describes how autistic people, as a community, possess a great deal of truth and knowledge that they’ve figured out by themselves and for themselves. “I know this because I’m autistic myself,” he writes. “Autistic people have plenty of valid knowledge, and we by and large are fed up with non-autistic researchers claiming to have “discovered” this knowledge.”
Towards a strong disability arts scene in Atlantic Canada — A look at disability arts, part 2
In his introduction to disability arts Alex Kronstein tackled what disability arts is. In this follow up we will take a look at some examples of disability art from Nova Scotia, elsewhere in Canada and the world to provide inspiration for a stronger disability arts scene in Atlantic Canada.
Exposing prejudice, generating solidarity — A look at disability arts, part 1
Disability arts is about how being a disabled artist influences what they create. In this first of two articles Alex Kronstein surveys the landscape of disability arts, and offers up some samples, including a stunning video. It is all about resistance, affirmation, and pride.
Holes in our social safety net — The social determinants of health, part 6
In this final part of our series on on the social determinants of health Alex Kronstein argues that a strong social safety net promotes health, but Canada, like so many other countries, has fallen victim to a neoliberal approach that’s all about “the financialization of everything.” Nonetheless, various Nova Scotia organizations continue to address the social determinants of health.