2/5/25 - Trump Stuff followup, disability history, and keeping on
The Real Threat Behind Trump's Disability Comments: A Warning About What's Coming
Kara Ayers, Mind Ramps - February 3, 2025
"The last couple of weeks have been called "shock and awe" because many have felt surprised by each of the new orders or hateful statements issued by the White House. For some, however, they haven't been surprising at all. Trump said he hadn't read Project 2025 but 2/3 of his actions so far directly align with the plan. This also tells us what's next: Additional policies and proposals to harm disabled Americans, including massive cuts to Medicaid."
Kara Ayers brings her personal disability experience, and professional expertise and passion for disability policy, to a new disability-focused newsletter. Here she kicks it off by offering sobering look ahead at what the Trump administration is planning – beyond the splashy executive orders and offensive, ableist comments. There's a lot for disabled Americans worry about. But I think the possibility of Medicaid and Home and Community-Based Services, (HCBS), cuts may top the list. If you don't already get why, follow the link and read Kara's post.
Today's DHR - Dave Hingsburger's Birthday
Sarah Levis, Disability History Roundup - December 21, 2024
"It’s important to recognize Dave Hingsburger in disability history because he, long before becoming disabled himself and having to use a wheelchair, insisted on empowering disabled people in ways that the support field hadn’t at that point."
I'm sharing this remembrance of Dave Hingsburger, on Sarah Levis' Disability History Roundup blog, for two reasons. First, his is one of the first disability blogs I read regularly when I started digging deeper into online disability writing and culture in the mid-2000s. Second, I think it's vital to recognize people who work in some of the more traditionally-oriented disability fields, and effectively work to change them from within. Not everyone can do this. Simply having good individual ideas and intentions usually isn't enough when you work for fundamentally oppressive systems. But every now and then someone like Dave emerges who brings more authenticity and bravery to their works, and challenges their colleagues to do better. His writing was always excellent too. It helped bring the liberating ideas he believed in into sharper focus, and made implementing them feel more feasible.
So Far So Good
Mike Ervin, Smart Ass Cripple - December 31, 2024
"If you’re not currently causing a pain in the ass for anybody who’s up to no good, it’s never too late to get started. The first thing you do is identify some people who are up to no good. That shouldn’t be too hard to do. And then you figure out how you can cause them a pain in the ass. And then you do it. And keep doing it as long as you still have a pulse."
On balance, I don't subscribe to the idea that the best way to fight injustice is to be "a pain in the ass." I've always been skeptical of the claim that "If everyone is angry at you, you must be doing something right." A lot of disabled people have lived much harder lives, I think, because they confused being an "pain in the ass" with being an effective advocate. On the other hand, I don't subscribe to the idea that civility is always the answer either. And it's simply the true that pretty much all progress towards access, equality, and justice for disabled people has been achieved by at least some disabled people making themselves a pain in someone's ass – or at least making them uncomfortable for awhile. And when Smart Ass Cripple offers a suggestion like this, I'm inclined to give it a try. We'll see how it goes.
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