1/22/26 - Service dogs, Ukraine, and assisted suicide

Good afternoon!

I like disability articles that are specific to particular situations, but also work well as background explainers on broader, more universal and enduring disability issues. These three do that, I think, in different ways.

Airports and airlines have a fake service dog problem

Alex Abad-Santos, Vox.com - January 11, 2026

"... but I’m obviously not the only person who’s noticed the rise of questionable, if not fake service dogs. Their proliferation raises a few questions ... Why are there so many? Why and how do so many people have them? Is certification that easy to get? Do this many people need them? Why is this one barking at me? Are these people who just want to take their dog on their trip? Does being suspicious of some of them make me awful? Is a fake service dog really that bad?"

This article started out feeling very anecdotal. The author just seemed to be listing complaints and suspicions. But read the whole thing, because it ends up being a pretty good, thoughtful overview of the "fake service animal" issue. And it does take at least one disabled service animal user's views into account. The only thing missing, I think, is input from people who use service animals for mental health and other non-physical disabilities. My instinct is that their needs are a bit too easy to dismiss in these sorts of situations. What do you think? Send feedback on this to my email address: apulrang@icloud.com and I'll include it in a month-end roundup of comments.

Stigma toward persons with disabilities and survivors of explosive ordnance (EO) in Ukraine (November 2025) [EN/UK]

Danish Refugee Council, ReliefWeb - January 21, 2026

"Stigma toward persons with disabilities and survivors of explosive ordnance (EO) in Ukraine is not primarily a matter of individual attitudes. It is an outcome of how disability is defined, assessed, funded, and represented across public institutions and social life."

This piece is about disability in Ukraine. But it could function quite well as a summary of how ableism works anywhere. In war zones and everywhere else, ableism and disability stigma has several distinct sources and locations. And recognizing them is important in being able to cope with and combat them.

Australian ALS Patient Denied Disability Support, Chooses Euthanasia

Wesley J. Smith, National Review - January 19, 2026

"Lewis wants to go on living but believes his financial situation makes that impossible."

I won't often share articles from National Review, because it doesn't mesh well with my political views. But it's worth noting when a conservative publication not only takes an arguably good disability policy position, but does so with the better arguments. In this case, I find it kind of remarkable that the article almost correctly identifies assisted suicide as an economic justice and human rights issue, rather than solely a religious morality issue. It would be interesting to see if the National Review would be interested in digging deeper into the implications here. The very idea that lack of government funding for support services might be responsible for people's deaths is not something you see in conservative journals. And if Australia suddenly decided to outlaw assisted suicide, that alone wouldn't change the lack of funding that leads some people to choose it. But acknowledging the economic side of the issue is an important step, and an unusual one for a generally right-wing publication.

Disability Thinking Weekday is a Monday-Friday newsletter with links and commentary on disability-related articles and other content. You can help promote Disability Thinking Weekday by forwarding it by email or posting on your social media. You can also comment by sending me an email at: apulrang@icloud.com. Collected comments are shared on the first of each month. A free subscription sends a newsletter to your email each weekday. Benefits of paid subscription include:

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