10/29/25 - Voting updates, a plain-language explainer, and a bit of a laugh

Greetings!

It’s another variety day, including some grim but informative updates and explanations, along with a dose of Squeaky Wheel disability humor.

Disability Voting News: October 22, 2025

Sarah Blahovec, The Accessible Voting Booth - October 22, 2025

"If the plaintiffs in this case truly cared about the spirit of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, they would agree that the one third of Louisianans who are Black deserve fair representation: one third of Louisiana’s Congressional seats, two districts. Instead, they are weaponizing the very amendments that were created to give Black people citizenship to dismantle one of the key laws that was created to reverse the wrongs of Jim Crow.”

As always. Sarah's explanation of the specifics and stakes in the Supreme Court's case on the Voting Rights Act helped me understand what's going on. It's not specifically about voting rights for disabled people. But as with many, or most political and legal issues not narrowly about disability, voting rights issues about race matter to disabled people too. They matter because they matter to all citizens. They also matter because many people of color are also disabled. When their voting power is reduced because of race, it also reduces their power as disabled voters to influence disability policy. It would be tidier, maybe easier if every group of people with something in common could cordon off "their" concerns from those of "others." But it doesn't work that way. Ultimately, that's a good thing. And for people with a stake in disability issues, it means keeping an eye on "other issues" that can seem off topic, but really, really aren't.

Plain Language Explainer: The Government Shutdown

Autistic Self Advocacy Network - October 22, 2025

"Right now, the U.S. government is shut down. The government shutdown affects many important things in the U.S. It affects things like government programs, and workers in government offices. In this explainer, we will talk about what a shutdown is. We will also talk about what things in the U.S. changed or will change from the shutdown.”

ASAN does a great job, and provides an important service, with their "plain language" explainers. They are meant to help people with various kinds of cognitive or learning disabilities understand complex policy issues. But honestly, they seem useful for anyone. Even if you already understand something like the US government shut-down, reading a plain language explanation helps clarify things. It also suggests ways to explain this kind of thing to others. The only thing that feels missing from this one is any discussion of why Congress hasn't agreed on a budget yet. I can think of good arguments for leaving that out, or maybe explaining those political issues in a separate explainer. But what worries me is that ignoring these questions of why may foster a sense of helplessness and cynicism that's already too common among Americans, including, (maybe especially), disabled Americans. Whether or not members of Congress are doing the right thing at the moment, some of them at least have arguably good, non-selfish motives for holding up a budget agreement. Explaining that seems like it would be important, too.

Another Brave High School Girl Talks to Disabled Kid at Lunch

Macklin Youmans, The Squeaky Wheel

"Winters’s kindness has sparked a wave of students saying hi to Peterson at lunch. Unfortunately, they’re always too busy to say anything else. While Peterson hasn’t reported any new friends, she has confirmed that old ones have distanced themselves in an attempt to remain untouched by the 'kindness army.'”

The headline does a lot of work here. You almost don't need to read the story. But the story is funny too. It also accurately captures how genuinely small and shallow "small acts of kindness" can be.

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