2/2/26 - January Comments and Survey Results

This month's comments post includes two notes emailed to me about January newsletters, and a summary of results and plans from the 2026 Disability Thinking Poll.

To send a comment at any time, email me at: apulrang@icloud.com.

Comments

1/6/26 - Three From "The Guardian"

Eleanor Smith, a founder of the Visitability movement, sent me verification that the cost of incorporating wider doors and no-step entrances on new houses is zero—including for houses built over a basement. A mayor and a county building official, each from cities that had passed "visitability" ordinances and each city with thousands of visitable houses already built, provided letters testifying to the zero cost.

1/8.26 - Journalism, the film industry, and the death penalty

Marian Ryan, on disability and the death penalty:

"First you have to accept the idea that it's okay for the state to kill people. I don't think that's compatible with the Eighth Amendment or with morality writ large. Who should not be killed by the state? It's and and and. Markedly intellectually disabled and mildly so and nondisabled people. These are the people who should not be killed by the state. And it's actually cheaper not to kill people, too!But the vindictively oriented will twist the arguments to accommodate their violent convictions."

Survey Results

Here is a summary of results from the 2026 Disability Thinking Weekday Poll:

Add monthly Q&A Interviews

• 90% good idea
• 10% not sure

Add monthly essays by me

• 80% good idea
• 17% not sure
• 3% nope

Publish less frequently

• 70% good idea
• 20% not sure
• 10% nope

Survey results showed no clear desire for significantly more or less attention to activism, culture, or practical advice. It seems like most people are satisfied with the balance of content. So, I won’t make any major changes in emphasis.

I will also keep on publishing more or less every weekday, at least for the time being. There does seem to be support for fewer newsletters each week. But a lot of people really like the shorter, more frequent posts. And while I will not hesitate to take a sick day or vacation week now and then, the discipline of publishing every weekday works well for me. And publishing every weekday is one of the things that makes Disability Thinking Weekday unique – hence the name!

Views on adding other disabled writers to the newsletter are almost evenly for and against. So I'm putting that idea on the back burner for now. But on April 8, I will start publishing an essay by me on the 2nd Wednesday of each month. And on August 26, I will start publishing a Q&A interview on the 4th Wednesday of each month. I am scheduling these changes for later in the year so I have time to prepare. Please do send any suggestions you all may have on essay topics and who I should interview. Send the to my email address: apulrang@icloud.com.

Thanks again to the 41 people who responded to the survey. Your feedback, ideas, and words of encouragement help a lot. And I look forward to using them to make the newsletter better in the year ahead.

Disability Thinking Weekday is a Monday-Friday newsletter with links and commentary on disability-related articles and other content. You can help promote Disability Thinking Weekday 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 on the first of each month. A free subscription sends a newsletter to your email each weekday. Benefits of paid subscription include:

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