Here's my weekly gathering of stories of interest, though this time around they came from my Web browser rather than my e-mail queue:
+ The legal dispute over the communication app Speak for Yourself is over, with the makers of Speak for Yourself agreeing to pay a licensing fee to Prentke Romich and Semantic Compaction Systems, and the latter entities agreeing to let Speak for Yourself live. Dana Nieder of the blog Uncommon Sense, who did a great job of letting everybody know what was at stake in this particular copyright battle (specifically, her daughter's ability to speak), runs down the winners and losers in a blog post today.
+ A post on the blog Big Blueberry Eyes echoed a thought I have every time I read one of those intended-to-be-heartwarming stories about high-schoolers naming a classmate with Down syndrome as prom queen or homecoming princess. When this is no longer a thing we're expected to applaud or appreciate, that's when we'll know we have inclusion. Writes Michelle, "I know the alternative is worse -- being excluded, mocked, bullied, made fun of -- so by no means am I saying it is a bad thing to win the crown. But let's not marginalize the students with Ds by letting the rest of the student body hold them up as examples of compassionate cases. Genuinely include them throughout the school year -- not just on this one big occasion of Homecoming and/or Prom, where the 'feel-good' story feels more like a 'pity' story (to me anyway)." To me, too.
+ Wayne Brady got in trouble recently when, at a roast, he used Down syndrome as an insult and a joke. Roasts seem to bring out the worst in people, because in a list of quotes from a roast of Anthony Bourdain, I found one that used fetal alcohol syndrome as an insult and a joke -- in this case, to set a standard of ugliness the men in attendance supposedly met. And ... wow. As often as you read cracks like this, they just never fail to knock the wind out of you, do they? The celebrity apology template is right here when Bonnie McFarlane's ready.
For more stories I've found in my surfing around, check the News and Views file daily. Have you seen something today that turned your head or ruined your mood? Share it in the comments.
Photo by Terri Mauro