9/17/25 - Disability rights at risk, institutional “Hell,” and blind accessibility
Good afternoon ...
There’s some tough reading today in the first two articles. But both are worth our time and resilience.
Donald Trump’s Assault on Disability Rights
E. Tammy Kim, The New Yorker - September 16, 2025
"A few weeks later, Fernandez texted me a link to an Instagram slide show documenting Trump’s ‘all-out war against disabled people.‘ It cited cuts to programs at FEMA and the Social Security Administration, and the elimination of American Sign Language interpreters at White House events. Trump had just issued an executive order, called Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets, ‘encouraging civil commitment of individuals with mental illness.’ Fernandez told me, ‘It’s like they’re hiding people with disabilities from society. While it’s not targeting me directly, it’s, like, what’s next?’"
This isn’t a complete outline of every way the Trump administration is harming disabled people. But it covers a lot, and through the eyes and experiences of a recently terminated federal employee with a disability. She could be speaking for all disabled Americans right now. Less than a year ago we could still have some hard-won faith that our rights could be protected. But now? Who knows how bad it will get, and for whom.
Inside a ‘Hell on Earth’ in Oklahoma
Danny Hakim and Rachel Nostrant, New York Times - September 14, 2025
"After she raised her concerns, Ms. Tobiason said, a woman she worked with called her a snitch, and deliberately bumped her shoulder in a hallway. She said she was made to feel by her co-workers that her empathy for the residents was the problem … ‘They absolutely hated that I was nice to them,‘ she said."
The same question seems relevant whenever stories like this emerge. What should be our main takeaway — how terrible these particular people and companies are, or how inherently abusive the whole institutional model proves to be, again and again? Usually, I want to focus on the latter, and question the whole structure and philosophy behind congregate care, no matter who or what runs it. But in this case Liberty really does seem like a huge barrel full of rotten apples, enabled and protected by ableism, fatalism, and bureaucratic inertia. Warning: Some of what’s in this article is truly horrific.
How Blind People Navigate the World, On and Offline
Laura Wissiak, A11y News - September 12, 2025
"I will be giving similar talks on online navigation at Wagtail Space on October 9th, and at DevFest Vienna on November 15th. Catch me there or watch the recording later."
I am trying to include more "practical" disability information in this newsletter. And these notes fill a lot of gaps in my knowledge of accessibility tools and techniques for blind people.
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