4/15/25 - Police violence, DOGE cuts, and Medicaid
Nothing particularly uplifting today ... another disabled person killed by police, and more on threats to disability support. And they're all from NPR. Interesting.
Intellectually disabled teen shot by Idaho police dies after being removed from life support
The Associated Press, National Public Radio - April 12, 2025
"An autistic, nonverbal teenage boy who was shot repeatedly by Idaho police from the other side of a chain link fence while he was holding a knife died Saturday after being removed from life support, his family said ... Victor Perez, 17, who also had cerebral palsy, had been in a coma since the April 5 shooting, and tests Friday showed that he had no brain activity, his aunt, Ana Vazquez, told The Associated Press. He had undergone several surgeries, with doctors removing nine bullets and amputating his leg."
Four years ago, disability activists were finally including "police violence" in their lists of important "disability issues." That attention seems to have faded quite a bit – in every corner of U.S. politics, including disability activism. But the problem clearly hasn't gone away. And whether we call it a tragedy or an injustice, mistreatment and harm at the hands of police continues to be one of the greatest dangers disabled people face in everyday life. This case seems especially egregious. And personally, the part about a staggering gait due to disability being interpreted as drunk and menacing chills me to the bone.
DOGE abruptly cut a program for teens with disabilities. This student is 'devastated'
Cory Turner, National Public Radio - April 14, 2025
"One of these programs, cancelled on Feb. 10, was called Charting My Path for Future Success. It was a research-based effort to help students with disabilities make the sometimes difficult transition from high school into college or the world of work and self-sufficiency."
How cutting Medicaid would affect long-term care and family caregivers
Kat McGowan, National Public Radio - April 14, 2025
"As Congress looks for ways to reduce the federal deficit, Medicaid is in the spotlight. Last week, the GOP-led House passed a budget framework that allows both chambers of Congress to work on a major budget plan they expect to pass without any Democratic votes. Some House Republicans have called for it to include reductions in Medicaid spending ... Family caregivers and people needing long-term care could be hard-hit by cuts to the program."
The details on these two NPR stories are different. But, they highlight one similarity that may be important for disabled people to grapple with. They both deal with disability issues and needs that can be hard to explain. That makes them harder to justify and protect, especially from a team of over-powered, nearly complete amateurs about disability, obsessed with cutting federal spending – from a majority in Congress that looks ready to enact broad entitlement cuts many of them have dreamed about for decades. The benefits of transition services for disabled youth, and of home and community-based care for elderly and disabled people, are hard for anyone to deny, regardless of ideology. But they aren't obvious unless you have some connection to disability life. It feels wrong that we should have to defend these efforts yet again. But those of us with disabilities may be the best people to do so.
If you have something to add to these topics, please do share in the comments below!
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