10/30/25 - Hunger, education, and leadership

Good afternoon!

How is your week going? Here are your three disability-related links for this Thursday ...

No One "Deserves" to Starve

Broadwaybabyto, The Disabled Ginger - October 28, 2025

"So it’s ok to feel overwhelmed. It’s ok to feel scared. It’s ok to think this problem feels ‘too big’ to tackle. Feel all the feelings because they’re valid, but remember that we all have the power to make a difference. There are things we can do ... It’s going to start with strong networks of community care and a commitment to checking on one another. We must agree it’s no one’s fault that they rely on SNAP. People are not to blame for this society wide failure, and they especially shouldn’t be blamed for not having a contingency.”

There is a lot in this post about the November 1 SNAP food assistance cutoff in the US. Some of it I didn't know ... like the fact that the federal government could be continuing to pay out SNAP benefits even if the government remains shut down, but on some level has decided not to. Also, I am curious about the claim that "bots" are spreading conservative talking points about SNAP recipients somehow deserving to be cut off. I have no doubt that this is the ideology behind a lot of what's going on with SNAP. But I wonder how much of the online chatter along these lines is due to carefully planned, automated campaigns, and how much is actual people who simply believe this stuff and don't even need to be organized to post it. In a way, a coordinated conspiracy would be comforting. The alternative is that our fellow citizens have always felt we were undeserving and lazy. Most importantly though, this piece offers concrete ideas for how we can respond and help each other.

RFK Jr. May Oversee Special Education For Students With Disabilities

Judy Stone, Forbes.com - October 28, 2025

"Heather Eckner, director of statewide education for the Autism Alliance of Michigan, suggested that if Trump is successful in completely dismantling the DOE and moving special ed under Kennedy’s watch, we can expect continued erosion of special support and services and increased disparities between states. We might also expect worsening discrimination against students with disabilities. There will be a loss of funding and data collection about outcomes, making further intervention harder.”

There are a lot of interesting and important points in this article, too. And its conclusions are pretty much the same as mine. But it's still a little unclear to me how, exactly, moving Special Education programs out of the Department of Education and into the Department of Health and Human Services would change things for students with disabilities and their families. Is the concern solely about RFK, Jr.'s personal views on autism. Those are indeed disturbing. But are there possibly more fundamental, less personality-dependent reasons to worry about such a move? For one thing, it's moving an educational program into a health care and social services department. That alone should be cause for alarm, no matter who is in charge or what crackpot ideas they happen to have about disability. Some might argue that it doesn't much matter which department funds and administers these programs, as long as they continue to deliver resources and monitor local compliance. But the Department of Education has always been more than just an administrator in education of disabled students. And the priorities and assumptions of both health care and social services are quite different from those of education – especially when it comes to disability.

When Leaders Embrace Their Disabilities, Culture Shifts

Sara Minkara, Curious Constructs - October 28, 2025

"Historically, even our most prominent leaders with disabilities have avoided the label. President Biden, who had a stutter, often framed it as something he “overcame.” JFK managed chronic illness and FDR used a wheelchair. Yet neither publicly identified as disabled.”

This piece includes one of the best discussions I have seen about why some disabled people identify as "disabled" and others avoid doing so. I wonder what an effort to get more elected officials and other leaders to embrace their disabilities publicly would look like.

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