5/8/25 - Voting accessibility in Australia & Ireland, and what to make of Sen. Fetterman
A look a voting abroad, and trying again to figure out Fetterman ...
Disability Voting News: May 7, 2025
Sarah Blahovec, The Accessible Voting Booth - May 7, 2025
"While the United States and Australia have very different voting systems, they share very similar barriers to access to voting for people with disabilities. Disability advocates in Australia and the United States share the commitment to breaking down these barriers to participation and ensuring that all people with disabilities can exercise their right to vote ... I hope that disabled Irish voters are successful in getting rid of this burdensome requirement and are able to participate in postal voting without having to prove that they are “disabled enough” to use postal voting."
We in the U.S. certainly need more like this – side by side comparisons between disability policies and practices in the U.S. and other countries around the world. Sometimes here it feels like we deal with the same ideas and barriers we've been working with for decades. Very little seems new, good or bad. Seeing what other people do on disability issues is both inspiring and sobering. Some good ideas from other countries could freshen our approach in the U.S., while some surprisingly bad practices could put us on alert for things we've never even thought to worry about!
John Fetterman insists he is in good health. But staffers past and present say they no longer recognize the man they once knew.
Ben Terris, New York Magazine - May 2, 2025
"Many of the staffers I spoke with are angry. They are troubled. And they are sad. These were some of Fetterman’s truest believers, and they now question his fitness to be a senator. They worry he may present a risk to the Democratic Party and maybe even to himself."
Fetterman's Long History of Toxic Relationships in Braddock
Tony Buba, Payday Report - May 5, 2025
"I read the article and I see no difference in the way John behaves now, then when he was the mayor of Braddock. The way he deals with people is the same way he treated Jesse Brown, Tim Brunson, Ed Cloonan, The Braddock Inclusion Project, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Chris Miyares and others. When he was Mayor he rarely went to council meetings. He didn’t interact with most of the other council members. Levi’s gave the community one million dollars for the ads it shot here, (which LaToya Ruby Frazier brilliantly deconstructed)."
After watching the political rise of Sen. John Fetterman, and then reading these two articles, I am finding it helpful to separate my thinking around him and the flavor and shape of ableism in U.S. politics into four main buckets:
- How Fetterman's political views have turned out to be much different than what progressive voters and activists in particular thought when they supported his run for Senate in 2022.
- How his stroke-induced disability was weaponized against him early on, in ways that probably hurt the progress of disability inclusion in politics, but also helped clarify some basic disability accommodation issues in positive ways.
- The perennial question of how people with complex disabilities should and should not be treated by loved ones and colleagues – especially how much say they should have in how we decide to handle our own disabilities – and whether and how those standards should or shouldn't be different if the disabled person holds political office or great political influence and responsibility.
- How advocates for disability inclusion in politics should talk about disabled politicians we strongly disagree with on important political issues.
I think that as much as possible, we should try to consider these questions separately, and with an effort to not overlook broader concerns for disabled people in politics other than just Sen. Fetterman. At the same time, we probably shouldn't be too anguished about opposing him if we feel so inclined, based on his actual statements and actions, just because he's disabled and we once may have seen his success as good for the disability community.
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