9/10/26 - Labor, resonance, and consent
Hello!
Today's links are especially rich, I think – a pleasure to read, despite some difficult topics. Let's get to them ...
On Labor Day, AAPD Strongly Condemns Department of Labor Actions Reversing Disability Employment Requirements for Federal Contractors
Jess Davidson, American Association of People with Disabilities - September 7, 2026
"'Recent gains in disability employment are no accident – they are the result of deliberate, measurable strategies like voluntary self-identification and workforce utilization goals. When working-age people with disabilities experience roughly double the unemployment rate and half the labor force participation rate of their nondisabled peers, the need for such tools is clear. Now, those measurable strategies will no longer be enforced as requirements for federal contractors by the Department of Labor,' AAPD Vice President of Public Policy, Michael Lewis, explained."
There's more in this statement than condemnation of specific policy changes. It digs deeper into the whole topic of disability employment in the U.S., which has seen real gains in the last ten years or so. It also reinforces which changes are definitely happening and which are more symbolic, why no longer collecting good employment data is so damaging, and how employers can still promote disability employment regardless of shifting government policy. It's a good Labor Day piece, shared here a few days late.
I Thought I Understood Access Until We Reached the Slave Ships
Tina Argetsinger, The Disability Perspective - September 8, 2026
"A few galleries in, Diana stopped. The load became too immense to hold inside that subterranean space. She quietly let us know that she had to step away, make her way back to the elevators, and go outside into the open air just to breathe."
I have nothing to add. I don't even want to try to summarize what this beautiful story is about. Just read it – especially if you think you know why disability and slavery are related, or unrelated topics.
On Parenting and Consent: When Sharing Isn’t Caring
Rebecca Cokley, Rewire News Group - May 9, 2018
"He was right. It’s not my story to tell. And being a good mom, especially in this digital age, means teaching my kids that they have the right to consent, or not consent, to how their images, their words, their bodies, and their experiences are used."
This is an older article that Rebecca Cokley re-shared on LinkedIn the other day. I'm pretty sure I read it before, maybe when it first came out – or maybe later. Either way, she does a great job explaining both the simplicity and the complexities of how we as disabled people share our stories, and how they are so often "shared" for us, without our consent or in situations where we feel we have no choice. And it's not just when we are children.
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