The Health Justice Commons team is back from winter break! We are excited to share our Spring Political Education Series, Understanding and Transforming the Medical Industrial Complex: Climate + Disability Justice Edition, begins April 2nd! Please save the date.

As our communities gather to celebrate the season – Solstice, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas and Gregorian New Year – we invite you to center Disability Justice w/ COVID cautious practices. Here’s info on harm reduction, COVID-19 risk assessment, and holding safer gatherings to support you and yours!

To honor Disability Justice practices and principles, our team will be going on Winter Break from December 15th – January 4th, returning January 5th! We will still uplift some updates and resources here to stay connected. But we will not be responding to emails or direct messages during this period.

2025 has been shaped by grief and loss, yet also solidarity and love. This year, HJC has continued to build our communities’ power to make sense of our conditions, abolish ableism, and create alternatives to the Medical Industrial Complex (MIC). Help sustain HJC! givebutter.com/healthjusticecommons

Shared from TGIJP: Join us as we honor the life, power, and profoundly transformative legacy of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, this Saturday, Dec. 6th, from 3-5pm at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. You can join us in-person, or via livestream on TGIJP's YouTube. RSVP: tinyurl.com/missmajorlife

Yesterday, the CDC changed a webpage to lie about vaccines and autism. Vaccines are an important part of public health. HHS Secretary RFK Jr. and Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill cannot be trusted to tell the truth. They must be removed from office immediately. autisticadvocacy.org/2025/11/kenn...

"We tell our stories and truths in our own words. We define who we are and our place in the world. We fight to be seen and heard. We live in defiance with joy and radical acceptance." — Alice Wong, The Last Disabled Oracle (2020) www.gofundme.com/f/Alice-Wong...

This Trans Day of Remembrance, with deep love and rage, we celebrate the ways Disabled Trans people show up for each other to ensure our collective survival.

When I signed up, I had no clue how much I would have needed this space after learning of the passing of @sfdirewolf.bsky.social! Extra grateful for disabled performers like Tré Vasquez, María Palacios, Nomy Lamm, Germán Parodi, Lateef McLeod, and Antoine Hunter! Ever grieving crip hearts on fire! 🔥

What is going on with SNAP? Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Federal Government Shutdown – a Disability Justice Analysis

REPOST via Sins Invalid: We are honored to invite you to the virtual release of Stages of Grief: Crip Hearts on Fire, Sins Invalid’s 2024 live performance, marking 18 years of crip brilliance on stage. To access both streaming and Q&A, please register at: sinsinvalid.org

We are enormously grateful to everyone who attended our political education series: Patty Taught Us: Dreaming Disability Justice Futures. We wish to share a few gems of crip wisdom from our amazing panelists: Maria Palacios and Lateef McLeod of Sins Invalid, Talila A. Lewis Co-Founder of HEARD.

Join us for the final panel of our fall series, Patty Taught Us! 📅 WHEN: Oct. 30, 5p - 7p PT // 7p - 9p CT // 8p - 10p ET 📍 WHERE: Online (Zoom) 🦻ACCESS: Includes ASL, English→Spanish interpretation, live captions, and will be recorded (with permission). Register: tinyurl.com/HJCFallPolEdSeries

I highly recommend virtual events hosted by @pressonsouth.bsky.social and @hjcommons.bsky.social, as they both prioritize language justice the way all organizations should, so if you do not already follow them, please rectify that oversight, as their work is as crucial as ever under Trump 2.0! 🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂

“Loving of all of ourselves . . . acceptance of all of ourselves is also part of Disability Justice.” Join us as we honor Patty Berne's life and teachings via our Fall Series, Dreaming Disability Justice Futures. 📅 Workshop: October 23 • Panel: October 30 📍 Online tinyurl.com/HJCFallPolEd...

To honor Patty’s legacy & build our collective power, Health Justice Commons is hosting a special political education series, Patty Taught Us: Dreaming Disability Justice Futures. More info in the link in our bio and images below!

Patty’s legacy lives in every act of care, movement for justice, and story told with love. Join us for Patty Taught Us: Dreaming Disability Justice Futures, a two-part series, Oct 23: workshop. Oct 30: panel. ASL, captions & Spanish interpretation provided. Link in bio for more details.

Disability Justice is a lifeline in these times. We honor Patty Berne (1967–2025), co-founder of Sins Invalid and dear comrade, whose brilliance and vision shaped this movement. Join Health Justice Commons’ series: Patty Taught Us, this Oct 23 & 30. Link in bio.

Mask up NOW “A new COVID variant, known as NB.1.8.1, has made landfall in the United States, and it's more transmissible than other variants.” www.huffpost.com/entry/the-mo...

Cutting $20 billion to NIH over 25 years may save $500 billion on paper, but it’d end up costing $8.2 trillion in lost human health. But NIH isn't the only thing being cut. The budget also slashes all NSF-funded science by 73 percent. NASA faces “the biggest single-year cut to NASA in history."

The House passed a bill this morning that makes massive cuts to Medicaid. Now, it goes to the Senate. Medicaid provides vital, lifesaving care to millions of people with disabilities nationwide. Tell Congress: Protect Medicaid.

Five years ago today my dear friend Stacey Park Milbern died. To learn more about her life & disability justice activism: disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2020/05/19/l... And here’s a syllabus of her writings and talks: disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2020/05/23/s...

Our access to COVID vaccines is under attack. It’s more important than ever to make our voices heard by making public comment to the FDA by May 23 at 11:59 PM EST. Use our template available on our substack at peoplescdc.substack.com/p/vaccine-ac...

Join us in our campaign to stop Medicaid cuts!

How often do you read Indigenous stories by Indigenous authors? #TheMagazine shares bold journalism, art & insights from Indigenous voices worldwide–on traditions, reproductive justice, gender issues, language & more. Subscribe today here: crushingcolonialism.org/subscribe/

New: Abortion bans are disproportionately hurting LGBTQ+ people. “The attacks on gender-affirming care, the attacks on LGBT rights are about bodily autonomy in the same way that anti-choice efforts are attacks on our bodily autonomy," Caleb Smith, from @americanprogress.bsky.social told me.

Remember, cuts to Medicaid will not hurt all people equally - kids and people of color will be more likely to lose care. We must protect Medicaid! www.epi.org/blog/medicai...

We are fighting for funding for the ME/CFS Research Roadmap. We have a letter urging Dr. Bhattacharya to allocate $50 million to fund the ME/CFS Research Roadmap. Sign our new letter now: bit.ly/MEcfsRoadmap The more signatures we gather, the louder our call for action. #PwME #MECFS #NIH

“Without HICPAC’s public meetings, there is no longer any public access to the process for drafting CDC guidance on infection control for health care settings. This further undermines safety for patients, nurses, and other health care workers.”

the HHS report on gender dysphoria in youth is out. i'll be taking a closer look and will likely have deeper analysis out early next week but a cursory look shows 12 new york times citations in this report justifying banning puberty blockers. opa.hhs.gov/gender-dysph...

There are few things as cost effective as Narcan, especially in a country where (entirely preventable) opioid overdoses have been a leading cause of death for years. For every 6 kits distributed 1 OD is prevented. The $56M in this grant trained >66K people and distributed >282,500 kits in 2024 alone

‼️ Mohsen Mahdawi has been freed: "Mohsen Mahdawi has walked out of immigration detention after a federal judge in Vermont ordered his release." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The fascists are actively killing marginalized people. And this is only the beginning. I fear things will become much worse before they become better. We need to organize as communities to fight for our right not to live, but to thrive. We are all that we have & there is power & beauty in unity.

"There are at least two concerning Project 2025 recommendations that we have yet to see play out. The playbook recommends rescinding Medicare coverage for gender-affirming surgery ... and suggests classifying trans-affirming educators as 'sex offenders.'"

Two disability-focused state organizations, Disability Rights New Jersey and Disability Rights Arkansas, have paused services due to not receiving federal funds. New from me at @motherjones.com. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Check out DREDF's explainer on Texas v. Becerra, how it can harm Section 504, and how you can help! dredf.org/protect-504/

Health Justice Commons @hjcommons.bsky.social

"As authoritarian forces try to separate our communities, we must act to defend each other, knowing that our fights — and our collective survival — are intertwined." [email protected], Toby Beauchamp, Damian Vergara Bracamontes truthout.org/articles/saf...

@crushcolonialism.bsky.social needs your support. “Crushing Colonialism, itself a Two-Spirit, Trans, and Gender-Nonconforming led organization, is being directly targeted by these anti-trans, anti-Indigenous attacks. But we will not be erased. We will not comply." 📢 Please amplify and support!

The Trump administration recently canceled $11 billion in CDC grants to state and local health agencies. The Sick Times has identified specific #LongCOVID programs impacted, including state-level research, outreach, partnerships with community organizations, and more. bit.ly/4jjeAzi

I have really good news to announce to everyone. Because of our reporting and many readers contacting Planned Parenthood of Arizona, the organization will NOT over comply with Trump, and is restarting its trans adult care. Good work everyone.

Cuts to NIOSH may impact access to safe masks! NIOSH is the organization that oversees workplace safety and certifies safety equipment, including N95 masks and other similar respiratory safety equipment. www.ems1.com/public-healt...

"People w/chronic pain are already up against many difficulties in finding & receiving treatment. We are fighting to be believed in a hyper-capitalist society where health care is not a human right." @sfdirewolf.bsky.social on the many ways medicine fails to diagnose & treat pain. #IllnessPolitics

Here we go again… Texas mask ban in the works. Masks should never be criminalized. They’re an essential public health tool. They allow disabled people to safely access public spaces. Mask bans disproportionately harm the disabled, marginalized & people of colour. See below for ways to fight back

Nearly half of CDC's developmental disabilities and birth defects center is now off the job Secy Kennedy's layoffs included entire team working on sickle cell disease www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-cut...

Where public health is concerned, what the U.S. chooses to do will impact the world. US reports 3rd death from measles & World Health Organization are saying an outbreak in Mexico can be traced back to Texas. The measles vaccine is effective & all but eradicated the disease. This is not normal:

April 10th is National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day! Join Advocates for Youth for “#OurHIVPlan: Voices of Activists Living with HIV”, a virtual youth-led roundtable tomorrow Thursday, April 10th, from 5-6:30pm ET. #NYHAAD Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

The Social Security Administration — already reeling from plunging customer service following a rapid downsizing under the Trump administration — is drafting plans to begin layoffs of potentially thousands more employees as soon as next week.

NEW: New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul is reviving her push to ban masks and is urging New York State lawmakers to include a mask ban in the upcoming state budget. This move endangers public health and threatens civil liberties.

🔥 Disability rights groups have sued 47's administration, along with Elon Musk, over DOGE’s cuts to the Social Security Administration, which they say have violated their constitutional rights. www.democracynow.org/2025/4/3/hea...