5/28/26 - A Supreme Court win, a high school ableism tradition, and cruelty
Hi there!
The first link is something of a follow up. The next two focus on disability in schools and school culture. What are your experiences of disability in school? Let me know by emailing me at: apulrang@icloud.com.
Supreme Court dismisses death penalty case on people with mental disabilities
Justin Jouvenal, Washington Post - May 21, 2026
"The majority ruled the court should not have accepted the case, which revolved around how to assess multiple IQ scores that fall above and below the cutoff allowing execution. The case was significant because many capital punishment defendants fall into this borderline territory in the 27 states that have the death penalty."
This is another example of a mostly procedural Supreme Court ruling that doesn't resolve the core disability issue, but holds back the harm for a while. The question of how to assess intellectual disability in death penalty cases still seems fairly open and important to watch. For more about this issue, check out the second link in the May 14th newsletter.
Parents push back after Chapel Hill yearbook omits 12 students with disabilities
Tammy Grubb, The News & Observer - May 27, 2026
"'Honestly, it feels like [I’m] an extinct animal … because my presence is there, I made a difference, but there’s no historical record of me,' said Luke, who is on the autism spectrum."
It's Spring, and in the US at least, that means end of year school traditions. In disability culture, that means the inevitable stories about three unique traditions that high schools can't seem to quit:
- Heaping praise and publicity on a non-disabled athlete inviting a disabled girl to the Prom as an act of kindness,
- Stories of disabled students either being excluded from graduation ceremonies, or wept over when they stand up out of their wheelchairs to walk the commencement stage, and
- Disabled students being left out of yearbooks.
Given how common and cyclical these ableist incidents are, in a field as regulated and organized as schools, why do they still happen every year? Even when they are accidents, as the Chapel Hill school claims in this article, how do those particular "errors" keep happening? That in itself is a sign of what we simply have to call systemic ableism – disability discrimination that keeps on happening even when no individual initiates it. What other term is there for it?
By the way, it's worth noticing that while the article's title focuses on the parents' advocacy, the article itself leads with very strong and impactful quotes from one of the students left out of the yearbook. These sorts of stories are so much better when the disabled children or youth involved have a voice in their telling.
Native kids with disabilities were held in wooden boxes. Sweeping reforms are coming
Brian Mann, National Public Radio - May 14, 2026
"According to the report obtained by NPR, the state's investigation found at least five elementary-age students with disabilities were confined in a 'wooden box for a timeout.'"
This is a different kind of school-based ableism, and one that's arguably a great deal more severe than leaving pictures out of a yearbook. This example is happening not far from where I live in Northern New York State. Knowing what I know about how disabled kids are treated in "North Country" schools, am I shocked? Yes actually, I am shocked. I have never thought everyone teaching disabled kids in my area was fine and humane. But, I am surprised that such an obviously cruel, discredited, and probably illegal practice was allowed here in the mid 2020s. And the school district's moves to correct the problem seem to lack the sort of urgency and soul-searching that the situation obviously calls for. Is this an example of a particular district falling way behind in the reform of disabled students' education? Or, is it a sign of regression back to bad habits of the past?
Disability Thinking Weekday is a Monday-Friday newsletter with links and commentary on disability-related articles and other content. You can help promote the newsletter 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 around 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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