My most recent prosthetist had devised their own patented method of molding a socket that better accommodates bodies like mine.
What
I didn’t realize was how else they have applied this knowledge, before I
even became their patient. With funding from the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (Darpa) to develop wearable technologies for
combat soldiers, my prosthetist had designed a suit made up of black
straps, metal joints, and sinewy tubing, reminiscent of an outfit for a
dystopian video game character. This exoskeleton is intended to “reduce injuries and fatigue and improve soldier’s ability to efficiently perform their missions,”
and could potentially make real-life soldiers more lethal. The
technology that allows soldiers to jump and crouch and shoot while
wearing this contraption, they say, is the same as what went into making
my socket. It is the result of years of experience working with people
with limb differences that make it very difficult to fit a conventional
prosthesis, people like me. My body—or bodies like mine—is used to help
design military technology.
Imagine if your
dentist applied their years of experience working on mouths like yours
to develop, say, teeth weaponry for the military. Inside American
prosthetist offices, this is actually a fairly common relationship. The
revolving door and entangled history between the prosthetics and
orthotics industry and the military has forced patients like me into a
cycle of design that creates high tech arms for American veterans on one
side and death and mutilation on the other. The intention is that
future soldiers wearing this technology would be better at destroying
enemies— creating more disabled people who will likely never receive a
prosthesis. A crucial part of this cycle is the industry’s fixation on
developing new, expensive, electronic prosthetic devices for veterans,
who receive them from the government at no cost. Yet the vast majority
of people who experience limb loss in the United States not only never
receive these devices, they aren’t veterans at all.
A clear majority of people in the U.S. support upholding Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing a constitutional right to abortion. According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll, some 60% say Roe v. Wade should be upheld. Three out of four Americans say that the decision of whether or not a woman can have an abortion should be left to the woman and her doctor.
It’s no accident that the power to make a legal decision on reproductive rights is ultimately exercised by the Supreme Court. It’s the most reliably conservative, anti-democratic arm of the government, responsive only to those who have appointed them.
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
If you don't like Left Wing political thought and philosophy, all things related to horror, the supernatural, the grotesque, guns or the strange, then get the fuck out. I just warned you.
