9/14/26 - Disability Voting Rights Week, and thoughts on 9/11
Good afternoon!
A focus on voting this week, and catching up on 9/11 remembrances, 25 years later. Also, I've updated the Take Action item below on the attacks on community integration in the U.S. The ADA Watch page for this has more information on what's happening and what we can do about it.
40 million eligible voters. One powerful week.
American Association of People with Disabilities - September 7, 2026
"The disability community is a significant voting bloc, but our community faces many barriers to the ballot. Inaccessible polling places, laws criminalizing voter assistance, limited accessible transportation, restrictive guardianship laws, and ableism across the political process prevent many people from accessing their right to vote."
Your Vote Counts: A Self-Advocate’s Guide to Voting in the U.S.
Autistic Self Advocacy Network - September 8, 2026
"On election day, people pick who they want to represent them in elected office. This process is an important part of life in the community. It matters because people who make policy decisions change our everyday lives. Everything from curb cuts to anti-discrimination laws can change based on who holds elected office ... Understanding voting and how to know who to vote for is an important part of living in the community. People with disabilities deserve to understand how to vote. That’s where our new plain language voting toolkit comes in — and that’s why we’ve updated the Plain Language version of Your Vote Counts: A Self-Advocate’s Guide to Voting in the U.S. for 2026!"
Here in the U.S., it's Disability Voting Rights Week. These two links, the first of which further links to a "kick-off call" with AAPD this afternoon, provide good introductions to the the week and its focus – the barriers that keep disabled Americans from voting, and how to reduce them. In the near future, I also hope to share some posts on an equally important question about disabled people and voting. How do we ensure that disabled people feel they have real, concrete reasons to vote.
No Way Down: How the Tragedy of 9/11 Redefined Disability Justice and Emergency Survival
Tina Argetsinger, The Disability Perspective - September 11, 2026
"Critics sometimes dismiss what happened on those landings as the cold math of catastrophe, arguing that disaster inevitably strips away civil society and leaves only survival of the fittest. That claim ignores what really happened inside those stairs ... People did not trample each other down the North Tower stairwells. They yielded space, passed water bottles, held heavy fire doors open, and took turns carrying coworkers. Zelmanowitz stayed; Abruzzo’s colleagues carried him until their arms gave out and others stepped in ... The brutality of that morning was built into the blueprints—an architectural model that invited thousands of people into the clouds while treating an accessible way out as an unnecessary expense."
Here is another outstanding post from this new disability newsletter. It's emotional, insightful, and informative on both the disability experiences of 9/11, and the wider issues surrounding disabled people and disaster preparedness and response. So much has been improved since 9/11. But, so much of it is now being dismantled.
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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