6/9/26 - Screens in school, veterans benefits, and a UK ruling
I'm feeling mostly better today. So here we go with three disability-related links for this Tuesday. But first ...
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Screens are leaving schools fast, though some students with disabilities rely on them
Jonaki Mehta, National Public Radio - June 4, 2026
"Then last school year, she started using technology that allows her to do a number of things: dictate her writing rather than type, listen to books rather than read them on a page and take photos of notes on the board."
This strikes me as an example of a particular kind of conflict that crops up a Loy between disabled people's needs and the ebbs and flows of what concerns and upsets the broader culture. It's a bit like the low-grade clash a few years ago between the importance of elevators for disabled people, and the popular exhortation for people to take the stairs for their health. It's also similar to the online shaming and defense cycle between people ridiculing the sale of pre-cut fruit in supermarkets, and disabled people explaining why it can be an important way to make healthy food accessible. Consensus opinion right now seems to be that smartphones and tablets are bad for students – a distraction that shouldn't be allowed in school. But for disabled people, they are often an essential tool precisely for learning and communication. The interesting thing is that disabled student's need for these devices is real, and the general consensus against them is probably basically right too. These are contradictions. But they aren't mutually exclusive.
House Finally Passes First $10,000 Benefits Increase in Over 20 Years for Catastrophically Disabled Veterans
Douglas Lindsay, Military.com - June 3, 2026
"The House recently passed the Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act, legislation that would increase benefits by roughly $10,000 annually for veterans receiving the highest levels of Special Monthly Compensation while also increasing support for surviving military spouses and families receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, or DIC."
This potential raise in benefits seems staggeringly overdue, and good news for a subset of disabled people who need it. On the other hand, can we imagine a similar raise in Social Security, Medicaid, or Medicare benefits – or of eligibility limits and thresholds – under the current administration and Congress? Veterans have a fragile cultural affinity with at least some conservative factions in US politics, which currently dominate our lawmaking and budget priorities. That may helped make this benefits increase possible in the House. We'll see if it makes it through the Senate, or whether President Trump would sign it. After all, his relationship with disabled people and veterans is complicated. Either way, do other disabled people have a sliver of a hope of benefits increases like this in today's ideological climate? It doesn't seem likely. But, I don't think we should entirely rule it out.
Ruling removes ‘vital’ UK safeguards for severely disabled people, charities warn
Patrick Butler, The Guardian - June 5, 2026
"The landmark ruling means many adults who lack mental capacity, including autistic people with high support needs, severe learning disabilities, serious mental illness and advanced dementia, will lose access to deprivation of liberty safeguards (Dols)."
As a US reader it's hard for me to figure out from this article exactly what the ruling means. As best I can tell, the UK court has ruled that a system set up to oversee various kinds of restrictive measures – like physical restraints – when applied to people who cannot mentally consent to these measures, who are living in care facilities. If that's about right, then the ruling sounds very disturbing. And it's even more disturbing that the current Labour government asked for this ruling. Any thoughts from readers in the UK? Email me at: apulrang@icloud.com.
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