4/6/26 - Two webinars, and an anniversary

Good afternoon!

Today let's focus on some neglected elements for this newsletter – specifically, scheduled webinars and similar online events, and issues of interest to disabled veterans. Here are your three links for this Monday ...

Webinar: Social Security, Disability, and Equity: New Research and What It Means for Policy

American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) - April 3, 2026

"April is National Social Security Month, which makes it ideal to look at recent studies that analyze the experiences of benefits specialists who help people get and keep Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. Attend a timely discussion intended for advocates, legislators, journalists, and community people with the authors of a recently published report, DREDF, and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)."

Date of event: Thursday, April 9, 2026 at 1 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Webinar: Heat Emergencies and You | Las emergencias por calor y tú

Autistic Self Advocacy Network and the Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies - April 3, 2026

"Join the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) and The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies (The Partnership) for a webinar on April 30th at 4pm Eastern Time about preparing for heat emergencies.

In this webinar, we will talk about:
- What heat emergencies are
- The dangers of extreme heat
- How to keep our communities safe"

Date of event: Thursday April 30, 2026 4 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

I almost feel dizzy when I think of how many seminars and conferences are accessible to disabled people online today, and how physically difficult and expensive it used to be for disabled people to participate in these sorts of events. In fact, attendance at disability-related conferences used to be a reliable marker of whether a disabled person was part of the professional or activist elite – the select few in the disability community who could truly experience being in a community together. Now, at least in theory, this experience is much more widely available. I wonder if anyone has done a study of how many disabled people are taking advantage of online events, and how it's actually changing, and hopefully widening the scope of disability communities.

Why Paralyzed Veterans Of America’s 80th Anniversary Is A Milestone All Americans Can Celebrate

Paralyzed Veterans of America

"They returned from the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific to a grateful nation, but also to a world unprepared for their needs. Unable to access their homes, navigate public transportation, or fully participate in society, they faced barriers to independence at every turn. Rather than accept their circumstances, they made a decision not just to live, but as the organization would later describe it, to live with dignity as contributors to society ... Paralyzed Veterans of America was born from that meeting."

This is a wonderful brief history of the Paralyzed Veterans of America. The PVA has obviously been important to disabled veterans in the US. But it's also been extremely helpful to the broader disability community. A lot of the "basics" I learned in the early 1990s, my early years in disability work, came from the PVA. Paraplegia News was one of the first disability magazines I read regularly. And the organization's advocates did a lot to train our local Center for Independent Living staff in the nuts, bolts, and fine details of accessibility – including practical implementation and legal enforcement. Thousands, possibly millions of disabled people who never served in the US military have benefitted from the PVA's work. That's one of the best things you can say about a nonprofit organization – that it reaches beyond its narrow foundations and doesn't hesitate to make common cause with people and groups that have similar experiences and hopes.

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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