8/5/26 - Worrying

Good afternoon!

A theme for today's links came pretty quickly. All three are stories about worrying ideas and trends in disability culture. They are different from the policy and political things that worry us – like erosion of disability rights laws and defunding of disability support programs. The worrying things in these articles are a bit more abstract and speculative. But in some ways, they feel more worrying than many of the sharper, more immediate threats we face. Let's have a look.

Why the future of robots is serving humans, not just imitating them

Aaron Edsinger, World Economic Forum - July 28, 2026

"Henry is not alone. As that gap between care demand and caregiver supply widens, care is rapidly shifting into the home, creating both a crisis and an opportunity for new forms of support."

It's easy to see how more sophisticated, "intelligent" technologies could make some disabled people's lives easier and more independent. Some of us might even appreciate needing less one-on-one help from other people. On the other hand, personal care requires uniquely human trust and reliability. People aren't always trustworthy or reliable. But machines aren't yet either. And you can't negotiate with a machine. Plus, we should be very careful any time technology seems to offer a less expensive way our needs might be met. This article is fairly careful to point out that assistive technology should be developed gradually, and in collaboration with users. But Medicaid budget-cutters may have a tendency to hear "assistive technology" and think it's a ready-made, one size fits all solution today. Assistive technology is more promising than ever. But we can't let ourselves be bulldozed or cornered into relying on it.

Disabled veteran with Parkinson’s disease arrested twice for misuse of 911

Shea Schrader, WTOC11 - July 3o, 2026

"'She takes medicine, very strong medicine, every three to four hours. That medicine just wrecks her. Sometimes she’s able to get up and walk, sometimes she’s stuck in a wheelchair or bed for hours on end,' Robyn said ... 'Unfortunately, there are times when there are no family members or anyone that’s willing to help out. And that leaves law enforcement, social services, and the person in a gap,' said Gail Poulsen, who spent nearly 19 years as an investigator with the Hinesville Police Department, becoming the go-to officer for cases like Gerrish’s."

This kind of situation is terrible for the disabled individuals involved. They almost always could and should be getting better support to avoid these endless cycles of crisis, pain for themselves, and hand-wringing from community authorities. This woman's situation, and above all how it is perceived, is also exactly the sort of example cited by people who think that significantly disabled people should really be in nursing homes or other facilities where they can be "looked after." Whether we like it or not, whether valid or not, we have to be able to answer horror stories like this one more effectively if we want to keep the momentum going against institutionalization and towards home care.

Why Some Americans Want to Be Disabled

Jon Gingerich , The Dispatch - August 1, 2026

"What’s worse, the days when we stigmatized disabilities, or today, when we fetishize them?"

There are probably reasonable discussions to have about the pros, cons, and downstream consequences of social attitudes about disability becoming more friendly in recent years. It's almost certainly true that there are some people who embrace disability a bit too readily, or in ways most disabled people would find strange, unnecessary, or even offensive. And this author's experiences with various kinds of mawkish "inspiration porn" are familiar and on point. But this other tendency to turn a modest trend towards disability acceptance and positivity into another "kids these days" moral panic is really too much. And calling disability a "luxury identity" is just disgusting. Unfortunately, it fits neatly into the sort of "center-right" ideology of a publication like The Dispatch – not hateful exactly but terribly concerned. Relax guys. Maybe people are just trying to figure themselves out. Maybe give us a little space to mess around with labels and explanations for a while. If identifying as disabled turns out to be a regrettable social trend as you suggest, it will probably peter out in a few years. You were right at the start of your article. Wider acceptance and understanding of disability is a good thing, even if it's a little overdone. I'm more worried that your worry is going to re-stigmatize disability.

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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