2/20/25 - More on diversity, YouTubers, and Disneyland access
Donald Trump’s Next Diversity Target: People With Disabilities
Sam Gustin, Mother Jones - February 18, 2025
"The Trump administration’s assault on government policies and programs that benefit disabled people is not just a scheme hatched in the bowels of The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 anti-government boiler room—although it is that, too. It’s also the natural evolution of Trump’s long-standing prejudice against people with disabilities. Trump’s disdain for disabled people is well known, from mocking reporter Serge Kovaleski and insulting wounded veterans to reportedly telling a relative with a disabled son that “maybe those kinds of people should just die.”"
Usually, I would say that it's going out on quite a long limb to suggest that a set of harmful disability policies are the result of an elected official's personal beliefs and feelings about disabled people. And as this article fully documents, there are much more solid political, ideological, and financial incentives behind the Trump administration's growing attack on decades of disability progress. But at this point we would have to work hard to deny that Trump really does have some sort of hate/revulsion for disabled people. This is probably at least intensifying what's going on. Worse, Trump's ableism ... and I suspect that of other key Trump allies ... suggests that we need to give up on any remaining idea that disabled people enjoy some kind of benevolent instincts among the powerful that will in the end protect us. We as disabled people are used to feeling neglected, forgotten, and misunderstood – by both Republican and Democratic politicians. Now, many of us credibly feel loathed and despised as well – and in the process of being very specifically targeted.
In 'Interabled,' YouTube stars Squirmy and Grubs tell stories of love and disability
Here & Now Newsroom, WBUR - February 17, 2025
"As a couple, Hannah and I face ignorance like all of these above moments on a daily basis. That’s not an exaggeration used for emphasis. Every. Day. It happens so much that a MAJOR part of our relationship centers around discussing it, trying to better understand it, and sharing it with all of you to hopefully one day get rid of it."
This is an excerpt from Shane and Hannah's book, which they discuss in this public radio interview. "Squirmy and Grubs" is my favorite disability YouTube channel. Why? I think it's because Shane and Hannah manage to maintain an accessible sense of humor, while not in the least minimizing the potency of the ableism they face, or suggesting that disability discrimination is something disabled people should just laugh off. Few disability content creators do a better job of balancing the different, often conflicting approaches to talking about disability life and experience – including irony and satire, "day in the life" familiarity, strong, assertive advocacy, and sharing deep, sincere emotions with a wide audience.
Lawsuit alleges Disneyland excluded physically disabled visitors from using Disability Access Service
Iman Palm, KGET.com - February 14, 2025
"The new guidelines aim to limit the DAS program primarily to guests with developmental disabilities, such as autism and other neurodivergent conditions. Guests must also complete in-person conversations to determine eligibility for the program."
One of the oddest things about disability culture – in the U.S. anyway – is the outsized role Disney plays in the back and forth struggle over systems to accommodate people with disabilities. At least once a year, and often more than that, a spate of news stories come out about new accommodation policies or procedures at Disney. These are usually in response to pressure from disabled people on the one hand, and efforts internally and externally to more tightly control disability accommodations and curb real and perceived "abuse" by Disney visitors trying to "game the system." Similar stories appear about other businesses and industries – most notably airlines. But Disney seems to be some kind of trend-setter or testing ground for much larger issues disabled people face in everyday life. Why all the interest in Disney and disability? I think it's because the accessibility and accommodation issues at theme parks are easier to understand than, say, the intricacies of home care funding policies that arguably matter more, but are much more daunting for non-professional self-advocates to deal with. I also think there are class issues involved. Disabled people who struggle just to survive and go to the bathroom in their own homes don't have much at stake with access to Disneyland or Disney World, and have fewer ways to draw attention to their life-and-death struggles. Disabled people for whom Disney access is a real priority and a realistic experience have better access to media and legal action, to make their needs and objections known. So we keep hearing about access at Disney. And while the issues themselves are certainly worth debating and doing better, I sometimes wonder if they deserve the amount of attention they get.
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