2/12/25 - Trump Stuff: RFK, Education, and USAID
Call your Senators to #StopRFK now!
Autistic Self Advocacy Network - February 4, 2025
"RFK Jr. is a horrible choice for this role for many reasons. He makes false claims related to autism and vaccines. He is the founder of a prominent anti-vaccination non-profit. RFK Jr. has also promoted bunk “cures” for autism that have real health risks for the people involved."
Of all the controversial, (terrible!), U.S. Cabinet nominations President Trump has put forward, RFK Jr. for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services is possibly the most complicated. He is a Democrat, of sorts, from a thoroughly Democratic family lineage – The Kenneys. His career includes at least some entirely admirable work as an environmentalist lawyer, fighting polluting corporations to clean up a the Hudson River. And he seems to be at least a symbolic leader of a messy but broadly popular "wellness" culture / industry that has taken in people from all over the political spectrum, and in many cases warped their politics in turn. But not only is RFK Jr. unqualified in objective, traditional terms for this post – and an increasingly bizarre figure to boot – he is especially toxic for the autistic community. So I am including this action alert which explains why, from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. (See Action Alert below).
Sen. Gillibrand: If Trump defunds Dept. of Ed, N.Y. students with disabilities will lose support
Tracey Porpora, silive.com - February 9, 2025
"If President Donald Trump shuts down the United States Department of Education, it would have “disastrous consequences” for school children, especially the half million New York students with disabilities who rely on $1 billion in annual support for services, said U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on Sunday."
Expect more on the Department of Education in the coming days and weeks. The Trump administration says it wants to abolish it, which at the very least would throw into chaos and limbo a host of educational supports for students with disabilities. The department administers and funds, among other things, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which sets out the standards for providing kids with disabilities a "free and appropriate public education" in the "least restricted environment," meaning as integrated non-disabled students as possible, rather than in separate classrooms or schools. It also helps states and local school districts pay for things like adaptive equipment, one-on-one aides, counselors, and other accommodations to students with disabilities who need them to succeed in school. At this point, we don't know what the administration's intentions are for these specific programs. But even if they don't particularly want to target these services, indifference to them and careless handling of them could be just as damaging as going after them on purpose. Stay tuned for more.
EU must urgently fund disability organisations affected by US aid cuts
Andre Felix, European Disability Forum - February 10, 2025
"A group of European disability organisations and services are calling on the European Union and non-governmental donors to provide emergency funding to disability organisations affected by the cuts in US Government funding. The statement, led by the Forum and the European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities and signed by 4 of the organisations affected, calls on the UE and donors to step up with both emergency and long-term funding."
I have to admit that my first thought on reading details of USAID cuts to disability programs, in this case in Eastern Europe, was how relatively small the loss seems to be – $5 million over two years. It seems like the EU should be able to make up that amount pretty easily. On the other hand, that means any savings to the U.S. are insignificant. It also means that a lot of disabled people in really challenging, in some cases war-torn, parts of Europe were being helped with fairly little in U.S. aid. All of which underscores the fact that suspending USAID is probably not in any meaningful way an efficiency measure. Nothing of any substance is gained by this, for anyone. Even if that $5 million were to be immediately transferred to disability programs in the U.S., it would maybe be enough to fund a couple of Centers for Independent Living, or home care for literally a handful of disabled individuals. That's not nothing, but in the grand scheme of things, it's not much. And of course no such transfer is going to happen. It's all symbolic for the U.S., while having real life consequences for Europeans with disabilities.
Action Alerts
A running list of opportunities to take action on disability issues ...
tpinedo
Disability Thinking Weekday is a Monday-Friday newsletter with links and commentary on disability-related articles and other content. Please like, share, comment, and subscribe — for free, or with a paid subscription. A free subscription brings a newsletter to your email each weekday, and gives you access to Comments. 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.
I am so grateful for your help and engagement, in whichever forms you choose!