New reality TV show PUSH GIRLS on SUNDANCE

[~Lin]

crypticgimp, I'm with you on the girl who tried to trip you! I also love reading your posts btw. You're someone I'd love to be friends with lol.

When I was in junior high a kid tried to trip me off my crutches once. It was before my disability was diagnosed, and kids at school called me a hypochondriac because they didn't understand why I was on crutches off and on and constantly written out of gym class. In the hallway this guy tried to hook his foot around my crutch and pull it out from under me. I caught it in time, and swung my crutch back around his leg slamming it into his shin. Then I kept going down the hallway as if nothing had happened. No one ever tried to trip me again.

[crypticgimp]

eileen, it'd be great on my eyes if you could use paragraphs. from what i could read i agree about reality tv being about being superficial etc my goodness. we agree on something. and yes, angela is very sad. you can see it in her eyes!

i think this thread needs a cocktail. i'll make one up and test it and let you know!!

[Eileen]

eileen, it'd be great on my eyes if you could use paragraphs. from what i could read i agree about reality tv being about being superficial etc my goodness. we agree on something. and yes, angela is very sad. you can see it in her eyes!

i think this thread needs a cocktail. i'll make one up and test it and let you know!!

Might I suggest that if you have trouble reading this latest post from me that you simply copy and paste into your email and then enlarge the font to whatever is needed. I brought up many points about image, inclusion, and other issues. I would be interested to get some real feedback, which the above doesn't really address.

[chick]

Eileen, the format issue with your post is more about separating long posts with paragraphs rather than being about font size, as I have trouble reading your posts too (or any posts like this). The lines just end up melding together and I get cross-eyed trying to read what you're saying, and so the best I can do is skim to get a few bullet points here and there without the full context they deserve. Many of your critical points and explanations get lost, at least for me.

[crypticgimp]

Eileen, the format issue with your post is more about separating long posts with paragraphs rather than being about font size, as I have trouble reading your posts too (or any posts like this). The lines just end up melding together and I get cross-eyed trying to read what you're saying, and so the best I can do is skim to get a few bullet points here and there without the full context they deserve. Many of your critical points and explanations get lost, at least for me.

correct. i have a slightly lazy left eye and so HUGE blocks of text like that just make it turn into wavy lines and i get a headache. and currently i already have one coming on as i kind of overdid today (man, amazing how my energy can go from 100 to nothing) and i still need to work tonight and analyze data. some days i can deal ok but for whatever reason, not today so that'd be super helpful so e can continue the discussion.

[wtf]

Eileen, the format issue with your post is more about separating long posts with paragraphs rather than being about font size, as I have trouble reading your posts too (or any posts like this). The lines just end up melding together and I get cross-eyed trying to read what you're saying, and so the best I can do is skim to get a few bullet points here and there without the full context they deserve. Many of your critical points and explanations get lost, at least for me.

Thank you, I was going to suggest the same to Eileen too.

[Eileen]

correct. i have a slightly lazy left eye and so HUGE blocks of text like that just make it turn into wavy lines and i get a headache. and currently i already have one coming on as i kind of overdid today (man, amazing how my energy can go from 100 to nothing) and i still need to work tonight and analyze data. some days i can deal ok but for whatever reason, not today so that'd be super helpful so e can continue the discussion.

I am not terribly surprised that Sharon's son liked the show. He is young, he has not been disabled for terribly long, and more importantly he has grown up in the age of reality television, texting, sexting, facebook and twitter. When I was newly injured I was thrilled whenever I saw a representation of someone using a chair because there was virtually no images out there beyond the paralyzed vet.

Because you missed the fact that I was being facetious in my comment about Audi spending her time on her rear wheels constantly you fumed about someone touching another's wheelchair as an assault. I agree with you that if someone did actually force her casters to the ground it would be an assault of a type, but why you think I would do such a thing perplexes me. Maybe I should always use the "just joking" warning, but really, I suspect hardly anyone took my comment as more than an expression of how I felt. Big difference between feelings and actions.

You have written about your belief that women may not like the push girls because the are beautiful. Speaking for myself (and myself only!!!!) I neither care that they are beautiful nor would if they were not beautiful. You comment is inconsistent with your own writings, where you say you are sick of hearing what Michelle O. wore today and no coverage to speak of an actual woman of power, Hillary. Huh? I too could care less what Michelle wears and she always looks good, so it hardly matters beyond America's love of superficiality.

What I do NOT like about the push girls is the image portrayed. Once upon a time there was a word, "decorum," which you never hear anymore because there is little of it left. The tabloids write about who is having sex with who, the drunken starlets, who are not really stars at all beyond their ability to have court dates and media coverage, and we hear of the latest scandals constantly. Reality television, which is often nothing more than what Warhol referred to as "15 minutes of fame" has taken over, and many people are so desperate for attention they don't even seem to mind if their 15 minutes is based on their sordid history, their bad decisions, or the fact that they are sleeping with their wives sister.

So, now we have Push Girls. Ironically, I actually think the show stands a slight chance of success for all the reasons listed above. America is filled with voyeuristic curiosity. But having had a successful career in a field that wasn't even very accomodating to women, let alone disable women, it is my experience that America does not feel threatened by wheelers doing things far out of the mainstream. Climb a mountain on your butt? YES, America can love that because it asks nothing from them beyond a little applause for the exceptional effort. Wear leather bodices that most hookers wouldn't be seen in during daytime hours and party at clubs till the wee hours? Hey, go for it! (And for the same reasons. It asks nothing beyond a bit of a "wow they do that" moment). Talk of needing 24/7 "nursing care" when you clearly need no such thing is not only accepted by the public, it is what they assume to be true even when it is not. Being carried to a toilet when you can do your own transfers? Again, I can practically hear America thinking "well, see, they do all need this sort of thing." As for finding anything romantic in that very weird scene my answer is that it was a toilet. I inherently do not find toilets to be very sexy or romantic. If Tarzan picked her up and carried her to bed for some serious loving that would be romantic, but a toilet to pee? No......ewww.

I see one woman, Angela (my favorite, maybe it is a quad thing) who is stuck wanting to be in her old career, even though at her age it is unlikely she would have much of a modeling career left even if she was ablebodied. Do I think that is correct? No, of course not, but it is part of the endemic ageist requirement that all popular models be in their early twenties and anorexic. So instead of correcting her course she laments that she could never work in an office because of her hands. Excuse me? This is enlightening the public? NO, it is an absurd stereotype that the public already believes.

Maybe I just think in the larger picture, having had to fight for basic rights back in the day when it was still quite legal to discriminate against the disabled. Let's assume some CEO watched the show and next week a remarkably intelligent woman applies for a job in his company. She also happens to be tetraplegic, and now he has had it confirmed by this show that no quads could ever work in an office. "The poor things, you know, their hands just aren't normal. I would like to hire her, but it isn't realistic."
This show may break certain sterotypes, but they seem mostly to be in the realm of sexuality and beauty only, not in correcting assumptions that keep people unemployed, in poverty, or discriminated against should they actually wish to follow a path that leads to their full recognition as a person of great capabilities who should be hired, had ramps built for, or accomodations made that would benefit both the employee and the employer.

Something on a high shelf? No problem, look at wonder crip balance her butt on a wheel and reach. Fantastic, but most people can't do that, and even those who can should be given warning about wearing out their shoulders any sooner than necessary. The show felt like it was vapid to me. Me, just me. If the attempt was to prove that crips can overcompensate like hell in ways that just aren't that meaningful to me, they did a good job. If there was any effort to show that crips are really just like other folks they failed with the exception of the "body beautiful LA" crowd.

To each his own. If you like the show then enjoy. For myself there are more worthwhile and interesting entertainment choices. As for enjoying a "catfight" between women as entertainment, well, no, not really. One doesn't have to be tawdry and low to prove they are human, nor does it exactly fit my somewhat feminist viewpoint.

Suggesting that any comments made previously about the Push Girls clothes might mean that the person writing lived as a slob in sweat suits that stink of excretions of one type or another was just over the top. I do not and will never dress like a Push Girl, even if I was 22 again because (again, the necessary disclaimer.......TO ME) they are somewhat tacky, although not all to the same degree. Again, Angela seems the most "normal" to me. I have know a LOT of disabled women in my life, and none of them dressed like these women, but they were clean and neat and did not look at all like the alternative slob version you proffered up.

The whole "stand out" mantra only pushes the fact that they want to be seen as icons instead of normal people, who are quite content NOT to stand out, but to be accepted for who they are, what they bring to the world, what they accomplish in their employment, and for their humor and intelligence.

(BTW, my writing had paragraph indentation in this version, but when I posted it something about the CCC system took away those indentations, so this is as good as it gets given that glitch. Surely you can deal with this or do your own copy paste)

[Charlottes Web]

WOW, they sure make a wheelchair look easy! I would NOT race 'em!!!

If they pull the ratings the show's budget will increase and the girl's pay. I won't be surprised if the dancer lands on Dancing with the Stars and one of the others on The Bachelorette! I LOL'ed when they pulled the "sex sales" card with the lesbian scene in the second episode. If ratings gets them enough attention, the networks will use their disabilities to play on the audience's curiosity and sympathy. That's showbiz!

Who knows, maybe they'll do a show regarding cure in the future and help with awareness and funding! Why, with Hollywood behind a cause... well, never mind! LOL

Best of luck, Push Girls!!!

T,

[cass]

just watched it on hulu. eileen voiced my opinion, as did chick. the quad really annoyed me. i'm guessing she really hasn't experienced quad life because of the marriage thing. they also called her help her "caretaker" (in captions). btw, somebody tell the world, please, that YES YOU CAN BE A QUAD, WORK IN AN OFFICE ON COMPUTERS OR EVEN OTHER THINGS...J.H.ROOSEVELT CHRIST....i almost puked at that comment :P

but, hey, i don't watch tv, esp. reality shows, so i'm not surprised at what i saw. and i'm really not surprised about colours wheelchairs or the whole L.A. line of thinking.

where are the working people? where are the parents in chairs? etc. not there.

[sreneet]

I agree with Eileen's summary. Needing a nurse 24/7 is not normal for a quad that can push a chair.

Here's Angela's bio from the Sundance channels website;
http://www.sundancechannel.com/push-...gela-rockwood/

I'm curious if the following excerpt will be mentioned on the show;

"She is a quadriplegic, and at the time of her accident doctors gave her a 3% chance of ever feeling or moving anything below her neck. A firm believer in alternative healing methods, Angela didn’t accept this diagnosis. Two months after the crash, while she couldn’t feel her fingers, she was able to wiggle her left index finger; a month later she touched the top of her head. In 2003, she underwent pioneering stem cell treatments in Portugal, which allowed her to operate a manual wheelchair. Though Angela can’t move her fingers fully, she can feed herself, paint and apply her own makeup."

I wonder what function she regained from the stem cell treatment that allowed her to push a chair?