3/10/26 - Still more newsletters

Good afternoon!

I took a day off from the newsletter yesterday. As longtime readers know, this has to happen once in a while. Sometimes I have other things I need to do. Sometimes I just need a break. Maybe you all need a break as well!

By the way, I have a question that has nothing to do with time off or today's links. It's something I have been thinking about. Here it is: Is there anything like the debate that we have in English over which disability terminology to use in other languages? Do French, Russian, Japanese, Xhosa, or Arabic speakers argue about "person first vs. identity first," or have old, stigmatizing words for disability that they try to get people to stop using? Let me know by email: apulrang@icloud.com.

No One is Coming to Save Us; We Need to Save Ourselves

Nieta Greene, Nothing About Us Without Us - February 26, 2026

"The disability community is being slow-walked into a period of Crip Crow by both the federal government and state governments. It hasn't been regularly covered in the media due to the disability community’s lack of political power."

I don't know how the term "Crip Crow" might be received. It's risky to borrow or adapt terms from movements for racial equality for use in disability movements. But I get the idea. And to me it has potential to impress on people who aren't familiar with our issues why they are so important. They affect not just our feelings or "quality of life," but our physical and legal freedom, too. Also, I certainly can't argue with Nieta's call for more and better disability media and culture.

Nieta Greene is a paid subscriber to Disability Thinking Weekday.

A Roadmap in Ukraine: There Is No Later

Sara Minkara, Curious Constructs - January 29, 2026

"War creates urgency for specific issues. Disability policy could have been postponed. Set aside. Framed as something to return to once stability was restored ... Instead, something remarkable happened. Ukraine recognized that the old model could no longer hold. First Lady Olena Zelenska made deinstitutionalization a national priority and committed to shifting toward a social model of disability, one rooted in access, autonomy, and community-based living."

The questions Ukrainian disability specialists and activists are apparently asking are pretty much the same questions we ask here on the US, and all over the world. What we can all learn from them is, as Sara puts it, that when it comes to disability issues, "There is no later." No "bigger" problem – not an authoritarian government, not a wave of backlash to social justice, not even war – should be reason to postpone what we know our goals should be. We should adjust sensibly to current events. But what we needed to do when times were calm and more receptive don't need to change fundamentally when things become harder.

Do disabled artists have to be activists?

Celestine Fraser, Body Babble - February 17, 2026

"But making that film showed me that art would never be just about my personal catharsis. We were amazed that our call-outs for contributors were bombarded with interest. We were amateur filmmakers, and yet our every decision was evaluated like we were proposing a crucial new piece of policy. ‘Why are you focusing on disabled people under 30, when older people are more likely to be disabled?, they commented. ‘Why are you making a doc about people with invisible impairments, when hate crimes are rising for people with visible ones?’"

This is only one part of a much more nuanced and varied exploration of what it's like being a disabled person working in the arts. It's about trying to improve disability representation and meeting the needs of disability communities, while pursuing the art that moves you personally and managing your own health. The article is definitely worth reading in full, especially if you are a disabled writer or artist in other media.

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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