2/9/26 - Calibrating and energizing activism

Good Monday!

I think about these choices and gradations of approach all the time ...

By the way, I did get some one-time donations and paid upgrades last week. So for the time being, I'm going to keep those buttons near the top of the newsletter as well as the bottom. I hope they aren't too annoying!

The Leashed and the Unleashed: A Necessary Tension in Disability Advocacy

Marcus Johnson, AbleNews - December 1, 2025

"For those of us with disabilities, advocacy isn’t theoretical — it’s deeply personal. Every fight for access, equity, or dignity echoes our own daily battles. But that same emotional resonance can blur the line between personal passion and strategic action. The true test of advocacy is knowing how to separate emotion from fact without stripping the humanity from either."

I don't know enough about the main real-life example cited in this article – the fight to preserve a more grassroots, decentralized system of consumer-directed home care in New York State. I don't know how true it is that aggressive, emotional, "unleashed" activism may have reduced the campaign's effectiveness. But the broad themes in this piece ring true. Effective disability activism usually does involve a carefully maintained collaboration between passionate protest and knowledgable, tough policy negotiation. I think this is right. It feels right. But I think it's also true that people who gravitate towards protest and people who prefer negotiation tend to have different personalities and experiences that can make them suspicious of each other. Activists often think of operatives as privileged, institutional sellouts. And policy wonks are quick to dismiss activists as emotional amateurs, loose cannons that occasionally win victories, but also occasionally derail progress. I wish someone knew more effective ways to bridge these gaps.

Better Now Than Never: The Resistance Can Be Imperfect

Emily Ladau, Words I Wheel By - February 2, 2026

"Here’s the truth: as much as I want to give nondisabled people grace and feel a sense of appreciation when they make an effort to relate to me, I do struggle with comments like these. Instead of assuming they might be trying to find a point of connection, I sometimes find myself suppressing an eye-roll. Do they want a gold star for finally noticing what’s been there all along?"

How do you cope with people just now realizing some fairly obvious things about disability – or about a current political trend or policy – when you've been saying these things for years or decades? And how does that dilemma relate to what we can or should expect from fellow disabled people and disability organizations we think ought to be doing more about a problem we feel is incredibly urgent. Emily writes about that in this blog post, and we probably need more disabled voices in this kind of conversation about what constitutes doing disability advocacy "right."

Emily's piece reminds me of a recent Saturday Night Live sketch titled "Mom Confession." It depicts a Trump-voting mother trying to tell her grown kids that she's beginning to realize how terrible the Trump administration might be. And her kids try really hard to "give her grace" and not scream and yell "About time!" and "We told you so!"

In Chronic Paine: A Call to End the Reign of Error

Christine G., Nothing About Us Without Us - January 29, 2026
Link suggested by paid subscriber Nieta Greene

"Apathy is no longer a private failing; it is now a public danger. Neutrality is not safety—it is surrender. To look away is to consent. To wait patiently for decency to return on its own is to misunderstand how fascism works. It does not announce itself. It arrives dressed as order. It promises stability. It calls cruelty 'necessary' and obedience 'patriotism.'"

You might say that this piece is "off topic" because it isn't about disability issues or disabled people's unique experiences. But what the writer says here about politics in general holds true for disability matters – both now in these conflicted times and also when the rest of politics an culture seems to be at peace but our struggles have to go on.

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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