11/20/25 - Disability and aging, electric cars, and a parking conflict

Good afternoon!

I can't quite find a unifying theme in today's links. But they feel like they go together somehow. Maybe it's just that each of them excited my interest as soon I saw them. Let's see ...

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Now, here are today's links!

Wheelchair? Hearing Aids? Yes. ‘Disabled’? No Way.

Paula Span, New York Times - November 15, 2025

"But if you ask either of them a question included on a recent University of Michigan survey — 'Do you identify as having a disability?' — the Meades answer promptly: No, they don’t ... Disability 'means you can’t do things,' Mr. Meade said. 'As long as you can work with it and it’s not affecting your life that much, you don’t consider yourself disabled.'"

A lot of what's in this article rings true. It's one of the attitudinal and social factors that tends to keep elderly people with newer, age-related disabilities from really being a part of the broader disability community. It also reminds me of my maternal grandmother. I grew up with very obvious disabilities of my own that were entirely understood and accommodated by my family – Grandma included. At the same time, she was almost a shut-in due to arthritis and her extreme aversion to going out in a wheelchair. It's not a hard contradiction to understand, despite not being very logical. However, I worry that this piece ends up depicting this as solely an attitude problem for old people, without fully acknowledging the influence of ableism. Accommodations are not, in fact, always easy to ask for or get. And while perceptions of disability have changed since the 1950s, disabled people of all ages still regularly find ourselves looked down upon – often subtly, sometimes quite openly and cruelly. So, avoiding identifying as disabled may not make practical sense. But it's not a completely irrational coping mechanism – especially for older folks who feel all kinds of agency and respect falling away as it is.

Tanni Grey-Thompson says disabled drivers at risk of missing out on switch to electric cars

Jasper Jolly, The Guardian - October 24, 2025

"Obstacles such as raised kerbs or gravelled areas often make charger points inaccessible, while touchscreens can be too high on posts or angled away when using a wheelchair. Another issue for some disabled drivers is the weight of charging cables."

I want an electric care someday. But the physical act of charging one is probably the biggest obstacle for me, too.

Conservatives want to allow pregnant women to park in disabled spaces

Praveena Somasundaram, Washington Post - November 18, 2025

"The conservative movement pushing for more U.S. births and bigger families has a new target for its vision: parking lots ... Lawmakers, largely in red states, want to allow pregnant women to use parking spots set aside for disabled people under federal law, regardless of medical necessity. That has drawn opposition from disability advocates, who say the measures violate the Americans With Disabilities Act and allow people without disabilities to use special spaces that are already scarce."

I think I have said before that my least favorite flavor of disability advocacy is policing who should and shouldn't be allowed to use "our" accommodations and designated facilities. But this thing really tests my usual distaste. I think pregnancy should come with better parking spaces. But I think they should be added, not shared. It's far from my top priority issue, but there it is! And I'll be honest – it doesn't help that it's the weird "pro-natal" faction of conservatives that want this.

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