(no subject)

[trouble]

Y'all, netmouse is my hero of the day.

Inspired by the poem you posted and further reading about her, I created a wikipedia article about Laura Hershey. It has survived examination by other wikipedia editors and passes the tests for notability and having references but is by no means complete.

I encourage you to edit it and let others know about it so it can be filled in by those more familiar with her work than I. I'm also willing, as always, to add material given to me by people who'd rather not edit the wiki themselves.

Please pass this along. I know there are many many people in the disability community who could edit and enhance this article now that the outline is there.

Recording our history, recording our heroes, making them "notable" in Wikipedia, is such a big part of visibility, of our history. One thing I've raged about more than once is that people keep acting like disability history, disability activism, disability studies sprung out of nowhere to surprise them. Wiki is a way of combating this idea because it's something we can quickly point at, that has references.

Comments

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[ysabetwordsmith]

>>One thing I've raged about more than once is that people keep acting like disability history, disability activism, disability studies sprung out of nowhere to surprise them.<<

I have no idea where they got that. I can remember having read about people with disabilities during my excursions through history. Hellen Keller sticks in my mind by name, but I also read about the founding of early schools for blind students and for deaf students. Harriet Tubman had a head injury that left her prone to falling asleep at random times. Okay, it'd be nice if there was a collated section of history for that, as we have eventually built up for women and queer people and other groups that don't always get the attention they're due. But it's not like there's NOTHING in even the mainstream canon. How could they miss it?

[laughingrat]

OK, I didn't know about Ms. Hershey until she'd passed away recently, but it was clear from the memorial posts that she had done lots of work. She JUST NOW got a Wikipedia entry? That is so frustrating.