10/1/26 - September Comments
Nearly every time I think, "Well, there won't have been many comments this month," I look back through my comment folder and it turns out the opposite. Sure enough there are, in fact, several comments to share from September ...
9/4/26 - Friday Video Share: "How to Take Care of Yourself When You're Sick"
From Annette Bourbonniere:
"Ok Andrew, that was hysterical. Now, for you, I hope you get better soon. It seems like this episode is going on for a very long time. If good wishes helped, you’ve got them."
Thanks Annette! Fingers crossed, I'm doing much, much better. As for the video, I may go looking for more essentially well-meaning but unintentionally funny stuff like it to share.
9/9/26 - Monthly Essay: "Random notes: In the hospital, with a disability"
From Kelly Mack:
"Thanks for this, Andrew. Glad you are back home and enjoying the comfort of your own bed."
From Billiam James:
"Nice essay with lots of good notes. Thanks for sharing!"
From Peter Torres-Fremlin:
Thanks for sharing your hospital experience. I hope that getting back home has been ok and recovery going well. In terms of hospital one thing I'm curious about is when one is doing self-advocacy, how you manage the not-being-believed side to things? (My own description of this is "fighting the people helping you")
It was nice to get feedback on my rather personal and jumbled piece on being in the hospital. In reply to Peter's question ... First of all, I have been very lucky to have not experienced the kind of disbelief he describes myself. However, I know exactly the sort of thing he's talking about, and suspect that my luck in this area will run out somewhat as I age and my health care encounters become more frequent and complicated.
On the other hand, I have from time to time realized after the fact that doctors and nurses may not have entirely believed me about my own situation. The way it seems to happen with me is that everything goes more or less okay – but then I realize two weeks or a month later that, say, that ER doc thought something completely different and didn't tell me, or that nurse probably believed something quite different than what I was saying. It's not as bad as a direct, potentially harmful confrontation. But it is disconcerting to think about later.
9/10/26 - Labor, resonance, and consent
From Tina Argetsinger:
"Andrew, thank you so much for sharing this. Your note brought tears to my eyes. I poured so much heart into this piece, and having someone whose own writing and advocacy helped inspire me to start this publication receive it with such care means more than I can say. Thank you for lifting it up."
Honestly, Tina's newsletter would be a real contender for "Best Disability Newsletter Debut," if such an award existed.
9/11/26 - Friday Video Share: "We Are Pregnant!"
From Mark Johnson:
"1 million views in 3 days"
I never thought to look at the view counts of these videos I share. I can't help thinking what more could be accomplished if the most popular disability YouTubers were more closely tied to organized disability activism. Or, would that somehow spoil the chemistry that makes them popular in the first place?
9/17/26 - Voting, home care, and a new credit union
From Casey McGill:
"Also not a financial expert, but I do think it’s interesting how their idea of advocacy and equality is offering another way to, in essence, make money off the disabled community. I know credit unions have a better reputation than banks, I use a local one myself, but ultimately it is still an institution founded on the idea of making money in some way. It also makes me wonder why they don’t instead strive to ensure our financial institutions are generally accessible and more equitable. What problem is Artichoke solving? Are they going to somehow change the institutionalised poverty of disabled people? Or will it just be another option on the market for money storage and other financial services? I guess we’ll see."
These are all great questions. And they hint at a deeper one – Does market economics have any potential to be a vehicle for disabled people's empowerment? Or, is it really only a source of oppression for us? It's an important question because a lot of modern disability rights is based at least partly on the idea that disabled people can and should be able to participate, benefit from, and influence the economies they live in. My own views have gradually evolved in a more anti-capitalist direction, though not all the way there. I still believe that disabled people deserve access and as much equality as possible even in flawed, unjust economic systems. Where this new credit union is situated in all this isn't too clear.
9/23/26 - September Monthly Q&A, with Peter Torres Fremlin
From Peter Torres Fremlin:
"Certainly my ability to have a freelance career is I guess infinitely enhanced by that. I don't know if I could get private insurance having MD, the couple of times I've tried I've been turned down. (And there are no income limitations on me for healthcare or the disability benefit that I receive - although there if I wanted to receive paid-for care.) And in terms of NHS and disabled patients ... well there's lots of not great stuff. But the NHS when working well does anticipate different pathways through care and also some reenablement support when you get home. So it's cookie cutter healthcare but I think a lot less cookie cutter than some private systems. However the question of home care is not an NHS question, it's a social care question, and that our new PM has started a discussion about, and is largely broken."
There's a lot of room here for more in-depth comparisons between the pros, cons, and scope of American and UK health care and community services. Both the differences and the similarities are striking.
Thank you all for reading through another month at Disability Thinking Weekday, and especially for those who engage with feedback. Remember, you can always do so through email at: apulrang@icloud.com.
Disability Thinking Weekday is a Monday-Friday newsletter with links and commentary on disability-related articles and other content. You can help promote the newsletter 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 around the first of each month. A free subscription sends a newsletter to your email each weekday. Benefits of paid subscription include:
- A monthly recap with links to all of the previous month's shared articles, organized by topic.
- Listing as a supporter, and a link to your website if you have one.
- You can recommend one disability-related article for me to share per month in a weekday post.
Use the buttons below to start a paid subscription or make a one-time donation.
I am so grateful for your help and engagement, in whichever forms you choose!
Free subscribers: 1,290
Paid subscribers: 52