GLBT safe schools seminar "For the Bible tells me so"

I really enjoyed watching parts of the film, "for the BIBLE tells me so" by Daniel Karslake. My eyes were truly opened to topics, issues and pictures that I have been sheltered or hidden from. I cannot believe how much hate some people have for those who are gay. Posters people held as they protested against gays saying how G-d doesn't like gays or doesn't have love for them was very disturbing to me. For people to think that they can say who G-d loves or does not love is wrong in my book. In my opinion, G-d looks down on them for thinking and acting with such hatred. In the film a couple things really stuck out to me. One family who had a son who was gay, at first didn't want him to come out in high school and then later explain that it is a blessing that their son is gay because it really opened up their eyes! It was heartwarming that the family supported their son so much and went to speeches and spoke about their experiences with others. The son was so thankful and knew he was lucky for the support and acceptance his parents gave him. The other thing in the film that really stood out to me was the hatred and threats for the gay Bishop. I could not believe all of the letters and threats that he received. Especially one that had a picture of him and another man, saying something along the lines of "I have two bullets one for each of you, when you don't expect it." 

Throughout the film I really got to see how much hate and even killings their are to people just for the fact that they are gay. I never really knew that such serious things happened like that. I knew some people were against GLBSTs but I never knew the extent of the hatred or dislike. I think it was a very informative and eye opening film and would like to keep having such eye opening experiences in this area since I have so little knowledge when it comes to it. 

Image from: http://www.aglbical.org/FBTMS.jpg

Really Liked "Autism is a World"

 photo from http://www.specialneeds.com/images/books/22509.jpg 

I thought about the film we watched all day after class and told so many people about it. I was amazed and blown away with how much Sue could do. I was most amazed with the fact that she wanted to know why she did the certain out bursts or different hand gestures that she couldn't control. I kept wondering all day if other people with Autism think the same way? I baby-sat a boy, my age, who is Autistic through all through high school, and I kept thinking about him throughout the documentary about Sue, because I wonder if he knows that when he does certain things they aren't social "norm" things to do. I think it would be very interesting to find out if other individuals who are Autistic had the same kind of thinking and knowledge as Sue.

I thought it was so cool that she talked through the text to speech board and how she was able to even write very well written speeches. I think that Sue is super lucky to have such good and support family and friends. I think that without that aspect in her life she would not be even close to as successful as she is. I thought it was very interesting watching her use her spoons in the faucet and how she said that is when she doesn't think about anything and just is fully engaged in the water and her spoons. Her spoons were also her comfort which she liked to have at all times and I found it interesting that she said that she knows the spoons add to her "differences" but she can't control or explain how much she likes and feels comfort by them. This made me once again think about the boy who I baby-sat for because he had certain squishy comfort objects that he carried around with him as well. 

Lastly, I thought it was amazing that Sue could sit through a two hour college lecture. She said, "Autism is a constant struggle, it takes so much energy to sit and be quiet during lecture." I thought it was cool that she gave a little knuckle pound with her friend who helped her in class, since she was doing a good job. I know for myself how hard it is at times to try and make myself pay attention in all of my classes... but i cannot imagine having to use so much energy on trying to control outbreaks or things of that matter that Sue had to deal with as well as paying attention in class. I thought it was very touching when Sue was doing her speech and another Autistic boy asked into the microphone if she will be available to help others like himself who have autism and will be starting college soon. Sue replied using her text to speech machine, "You can count on me Tyler" and it literally gave me the chills. I think Sue is an amazing lady who works extra hard to be able to do whatever she may want out of life and works super hard to not let her having autism take over her life. 

Blindness movie

I think that Miramax should have thought twice before making and releasing a movie like this. I think it is very sad that the National Federation of the Blind are saying that by a movie coming out like this the Blind community will have to deal with many new obstacles. Something that was brought up by the NFB that really caught my attention was the fact that this movie will increase the unemployment rate for people who are blind. They wrote about how the movie is going to reinforce the misconceptions about the blind and people are going to think that blind people are not capable of things that they really are fully capable of. It’s disappointing that the film portrays the blind as “filthy, incompetent, and vicious.” It also said that in the movie, the blind people were shown as not being able to do even the simplest of things, such as get dressed or go to the bathroom. The one lady who is not blind is portrayed as physically and mentally superior to others only because she has her sight. I think that this will give people a lower view on people who are blind, even if they are not judgmental or usually have such negative views about the blind. Movies are made so well nowadays that many people are going to think everything they see about the blind is in fact true, because it looks so real. I think that this movie should not have even been made since it is so offending to the blind and family members and friends of blind individuals.

http://www.shockya.com/news/wp-content/uploads/blindness_movie_poster.jpg