🕯️Today is Disability Day of Mourning, when our community remembers disabled people lost to filicide. Join us tonight 6pm ET for ASAN’s virtual vigil: youtu.be/HeF3LrHTuBM #DDoM2026

Very few people will get me to leave my warm, comfy bed and go outside in this icy snow; @mariatown.bsky.social & @lachimusic.bsky.social did! Thrilled I got to spend the evening listening to their conversation on all things disability, including Lachi's new book "I identify as blind."

I have not been able to leave my apartment since Friday, January 23rd. While the sidewalk next to me has been cleared, the curb cut is an extreme winter sports event course, as are the three other curb cuts at the intersection.

Homeless women face unique health challenges with few dedicated resources. And as the number of women experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles continues to grow, Dr. Mary Marfisee hopes to bring them lifesaving resources.

This was my big concern with RFK Jr.'s fearmongering about autism: That it would lead to the rationalization of draconian quack "treatments" for autism. arstechnica.com/health/2026/...

You've probably been following the story about fraud in MN. I wrote about the people who provide services who are being driven into bankruptcy, thanks to the Walz' administration decision to hire Optum AI to screen all payments. It's a disaster.

... that’s Step Three in the autocrat's playbook. In our democracy, actions of this magnitude and decisions about what happens next, must go through Congress - not be dictated by a president who admires authoritarians and rules like one.

Foreign policy is not the personal domain of a president. Congress has a constitutional role to serve as the voice of the people and a restraint on power. One of the oldest moves in the authoritarian playbook is to sideline the legislature and strip away checks and balances...

Nicolás Maduro is a brutal dictator who has caused immense suffering. However, the way to fight authoritarianism abroad is not to embrace it at home.

“I’m honored to be your ancestor and believe that disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”

For my hero of 2025 at @motherjones.com, I wrote about the late great disabled disability justice oracle Alice Wong, including her work with Disability Visibility Project, Crips for eSims for Gaza, and #CripTheVote. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Some work I’m proud of from this year (all of the links are gift links)… I joined street-medicine teams in Phoenix in July as they tried to help unhoused people cope with increasingly extreme heat:

Bob Kafka was an organizer with ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today), a group which advocates for policy change to support people with disabilities. n.pr/4pWshr5

The caregiving industry could not survive without immigrants. But a third of the staff at one Miami nursing home lost their jobs after the Trump administration ended the programs letting them work legally. www.notus.org/immigration/...

Also worth noting that it doesn't seem to account for family caregivers, e.g. a parent who may have left the workforce, and is not at school, in order to care for another family member!

Critiquing social programs and thinking about how they can do better is good, actually. NM is clearly moving toward making this program more inclusive and easier to access over time. I hope that those involved in implementation are thinking about how to incorporate disablity into the future.

I want to be clear that I'm not saying this program is bad, or that the state is acting in bad faith, or that other states shouldn't take this example and run with it. I AM saying that anyone advocating for universal childcare needs to be thinking about how it connects with disablity.

The other is the work/school requirements. This kind of means testing in general isn't great. NM waives in some settings (such as grandparents or housing unstable families), but there does not appear to be a carveout for disabled parents, who I guess don't exist or matter.

One is the fact that some disabled children need medical daycare, which is a really scarce resource. Some childcare facilities will also exclude disabled children even when they don't need specialized care because they're worried about liablity. I'm not seeing much discussion on addressing this!

Not to be That Person but watching the discourse around New Mexico's universal free childcare program, which, to be clear, is a really good start, I don't see a lot of engagement with two pretty significant disablity issues...

BREAKING: Federal judge rules that the Trump administration likely illegally suspended SNAP benefits, ruling that at least reduced distribution is required to go forward under law using the $6 billion reserve fund. Judge gives the Trump admin until Monday to respond as to whether it will act.

“Given how many people with disabilities rely on benefits from government programs, this shutdown is especially harmful for the disability community” - @mariatown.bsky.social, @aapd.com #DisabilityJustice www.disabilityscoop.com/2025/10/28/g...

Judge Indira Talwani acknowledged this will leave millions of people without assistance starting Saturday. Two dozen Democratic-led states had sued over the administration's decision to suspend SNAP. n.pr/3JxdjHW

BREAKING: Judges order the federal government to use contingency funds for SNAP food aid payments during the shutdown.

2026 Applications for the Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leaders Award close TOMORROW at 5 PM ET! Recipients receive $25,000 for leadership development and to advance a bold idea for people with disabilities. Go to our website to apply and learn more: www.aapd.com/paul-g-hearn...

This week on The State of Belief: Rev. @raushenbush.bsky.social is joined by @thecelinafactor.bsky.social, CEO of @lwvus.bsky.social!

The programs will continue to receive grant funding, but only for one year. “It is still a disruption to families,’’ Lisa McConachie of the Oregon DeafBlind Project said. “It creates this mistrust, that you are gone and back and gone and back.”

This seems troubling. It’s not a situation like when the physician payment formula was in flux in 2015 & all Medicare physician claims were temporarily held (or paid at lower rates and then later reprocessed). Most payments should flow normally with only certain telemedicine/other claims held.

Today is a Disability Mentoring Day, a day that puts a focus on national effort on promoting career development for students and job-seekers with disabilities through career exploration and ongoing mentoring relationships.

The government shutdown shows no signs of ending soon. Social Security & Medicaid benefits will keep going out, but, people could be w/o other benefits, like SNAP & WIC very soon. AAPD created a resource that explains what’s at stake if the shutdown doesn’t end soon. www.aapd.com/explainer-wh...

Per CDC source: At internal leadership meeting this afternoon, it was shared that 1,257 people were RIF'd at CDC. Number may not be final. Apparently, chief of staff was unaware that RIFs were going to occur so not clear who is making decisions. (Short 🧵)

If you work in the Office of Special Education for the Department of Education and have been RIF'ed or if you work in a school that has been notified about it, please message me. My Signal is emgarcia.85. I'll protect your identity.

Two opportunities to get involved in the city this week, from @colleengrablick.bsky.social's Civics Roundup: • Tuesday, Oct. 7: @freedcproject.bsky.social's Ward 3 campaign orientation • Wednesday, Oct. 8: "Angry" hour for pissed-off optimists benefiting @peacefordc.bsky.social

ICYMI, the federal government is still shut down. Here's what that means for the people of D.C.

#FF @jasmineeharris.bsky.social @mariatown.bsky.social @crenny75.bsky.social @akwyz.com @neilmilliken.bsky.social @debraruh.bsky.social @judgewren.bsky.social @sabrinaep.bsky.social @xoulwing.bsky.social @icarszoey.bsky.social @yep4rights.bsky.social @disabilityrightsca.bsky.social @aapd.com

And will be in excellent hands with the brilliant @ashleyallison.bsky.social 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/02/media/the-root-go-media-ashley-allison

If you haven’t worked in the federal government during a past shutdown, it may be hard to know how drastically this breaks from past practice and the law. I was furloughed from HHS in 2013, and our out-of-office messages were studiously neutral. To do otherwise would have violated the Hatch Act.

Ridiculously, Medicare Telehealth coverage keeps are getting tied to continuing resolutions. Bills could be passed separately. But political bureaucracy. This means Medicare Telehealth waivers are kaput as of today. My latest for @motherjones.com www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

This will be an essential resource, and my hope is that it makes it easier for academics who are called to public scholarship as a way to fight the encroaching darkness.

As we await news of a government shutdown, I’m thinking back to my time as a federal employee. In 2013, the government shutdown for a little more than two weeks. I was confused, frustrated, and scared.

The work of disabled scholars counting on federal funding for their projects and access needs is evaporating in a haze of Trump, after we fought SO HARD for equitable access. Many of these scholars are in the ADA Generation!

So, a project that I’m working on is getting some media attention, and that feels pretty cool. I should note: this article lets at least one highly dubious claim from administration brass go unchallenged. So bad as this picture of Trump’s SSA looks, the reality’s probably worse. Gift link below.

In making unsupported claims about autism, the Trump administration is "pointing the finger" at parents and making them feel guilty, says autism community advocate Colin Killick.

Citing concerns about DEI, the Department of Education has halted funding for programs that support students with combined hearing and vision loss in eight states. “How low can you go?” one advocate asked. “How can you do this to children?” By @jodiscohen.bsky.social @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

This is what she lives with every day now: “The fear of leaving your family and letting them know, ‘If I don’t return, it’s not because I am abandoning you.’” Powerful story by @chabeli.bsky.social for @19thnews.org.

Muriel Bowser is worse than the mayor from Jaws. This executive order is like putting chum into the water to welcome sharks to your beach. #FreeDC www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

ICYMI: On Friday the Department of Labor extended the comment period on rescissions to Section 503. The new deadline is Sep 17, 2025 at 11:59 PM EDT. Submit your comment today!

"The move to drop the 7% goal for federal contractors...will only make it harder for people with disabilities — a traditionally underemployed population — to find work, said @mariatown.bsky.social, president and CEO of the @aapd.com. www.disabilityscoop.com/2025/08/29/l...