6/17/26 - Another Trump move, more on a disabled Senate candidate, and a look at political categories
Hello!
Today's links feel a bit more political than they have recently. That's probably natural, as we in the US get closer to the midterm elections in November. It's got me thinking of what kinds of articles and discussions would be best to share here. And as always, I am also interested in what's happening politically in other countries and their upcoming elections. Please let me know what I might be missing.
Scroll down for today's links. But first ...
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Trump further guts Education Dept. by shifting oversight of special ed, civil rights
Jonaki Mehta, Cory Turner, National Public Radio - June 16, 2026
"The Trump administration said Tuesday it will move much of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). OSERS manages programs that support students with disabilities, offering guidance and oversight to ensure states follow the landmark Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a law that guarantees disabled students access to an equitable public education."
Many of us have a baked-in suspicion of pretty much anything the Trump administration does. And its Project 2025 steps usually have deeper, more ideological motives than simply efficiency or cutting "wasteful" bureaucracy. But why exactly is moving education of kids with disabilities to Health and Human Services a bad idea?
- There is always a high financial, practical, and human cost to moving a major department with loads of important functions out of where it's operated for decades and into a new department with little experience in what it does and plenty to do already. Even if the shift were somehow to end up being a good thing, it's impossible to imagine the transition being quick or smooth. In the meantime, disabled children and youth are going to pay the price in confusion and neglect.
- Teaching students with disabilities isn't a health or human service. It's a civic necessity and a human right. Education is about learning and preparation for life, not health care. These things are related of course. Most of what governments do is related in some way. But education and health care are in separate categories for reasons. And disabled people specifically have an important interest in not allowing everything about our lives to be viewed through a health care or social services lens.
Expect to see more links about this in the coming weeks,.
Could Paralympian and ‘Prairie Populist’ Josh Turek Be Iowa’s Next Senator?
Ian Ruder, New Mobility - November 7, 2025
"I think my message to disabled voters is that we have been so siloed that there has almost been what I would define as a famine mentality that has taken over the disabled population. We’re all fighting over the same handful of resources in these nonprofit organizations. What we haven’t seen is disabled Americans coming together behind one cause to fight for the handful of issues that are raising the tides for all boats — affordable and accessible healthcare, social safety nets, the cuts to Medicaid, the cuts to services and the direct care worker crisis. This is the thing that we’ve got to come together and fight for."
Turek won his primary since this article was published, and is now the Democratic Party candidate for Senate from Iowa. This article, in one of the more long-running, broadly respected disability magazines, offers a more detailed look at Turek specifically as a disabled, wheelchair-user Senate candidate. New Mobility did a great job. Their interview with Turek strikes a good balance between his broader political message and personal perspectives on what it's like to campaign with a disability.
Watch for Friday's video share, which will be a conversation between Josh Turek and historian and political YouTuber Heather Cox Richardson.
Study splits Americans into nine political groups. Where do you belong?
Scott Clement, Washington Post - June 10, 2026
Source: Paid Subscriber Mark Johnson
"The Pew study, conducted every five-or-so years since 1987, uses polling and analysis to reimagine how Americans would cluster around ideas if they were not grouped into two political parties. Pew then created nineideological categories in an attempt to more clearly define where people actually stand."
This is not in any direct way a "disability-related" article. But I think it can be a useful starting point for two sorts of discussions I would like to have:
- How disabled people and disability issues fit into these sorts of political and ideological groupings.
- Whether it would be possible and useful to identify some recognizable political and ideological categories that exist uniquely in disability culture.
Maybe this is a good topic for an upcoming Monthly Essay?
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