9/18/25 - Issues in the US, the UK, and The Vatican

Hi there!

Kind of an odd little variety today ...

Five Key Moments: Hearing on Barriers to Work for People with Disabilities

Rep. Jason Smith, United States House Committee on Ways & Means - September 13, 2025

"Despite 60 percent of DI and SSI beneficiaries indicating they would like to work, less than one percent of DI beneficiaries have been able to leave the program for work. Studies show most beneficiaries are unaware of available pathways to employment, and when beneficiaries attempt to find work, they often must work with a third party to navigate the thicket of bureaucratic rules."

Used to think that the further into the weeds of very specific disability policy you get, the less obviously partisan the discussion is likely to be. Like most people I think, I am reassessing a lot of my political assumptions, including those related to disability policy and politics. A hearing by a current U.S. House of Representatives committee is quite likely to be, at the very least, deeply influenced by conservative/Right Wing values and ideas. Still, I can't argue with the hearing summary quoted above. It's been true for decades that:

• Lots of unemployed and under-employed disabled people receiving benefits would like to work and earn more,
• Surprisingly few of them know about already existing programs that can make this at least partially possible,
• The bureaucracy around benefits and working is a strong deterrent to even trying to work in ways that are financially feasible.

The only thing I see missing from this account of the hearing is the idea that maybe strengthening benefits and making them more secure – not cutting them down as soon as the opportunity arises – can actually do a lot to encourage disabled people to pursue paid employment. But for the moment, I'll take it as encouraging that these issues are still being discussed in the House.

It’s not too late: the House of Lords can still protect disabled people from this dangerous assisted dying bill

Lucy Webster, The Guardian - September 12, 2025

"Personally, I would be in favour of peers throwing out the whole idea, which is what this dangerous and badly written bill surely deserves. But it is unlikely that they will want to go so directly against the Commons, especially on such a controversial issue. So instead I must hope that they listen to disabled people’s groups, as well as legal and medical experts, and at least undo some of the lower house’s most egregious errors."

Rather than rehash the disability-related arguments for or against assisted suicide, (for me, mostly against), I just want to note here how the structure of governments' law-making processes affect the development of disability policy. In this case, a basically unelected body might be the only way to get a more thorough debate on an assisted suicide law. I can't imagine advocating for anything like a House of Lords in the U.S. We already have a Supreme Court that almost functions that way, and its usefulness has been spotty, especially in the last few years. Especially now, we don't need more unaccountable arbiters deciding important, life and death issues with inadequate debate. On the other hand, sometimes the more democratic kind of process gets it wrong, in its process or its conclusions. Having one more venue for debate, maybe even a step or two removed from electoral politics, sometimes seems appealing.

Pope promotes employment of persons with disabilities in the Vatican

Vatican News - September 13, 2025

"From now on, “the employment of persons with disabilities is to be promoted in a spirit of welcome and, where necessary, through the adoption of appropriate and specific measures, since the condition of disability does not preclude suitability for work” in all Vatican institutions, both of the Holy See and of the Governorate."

This doesn't seem quite so impressive after reading the whole news item. It's pretty basic disability rights stuff for government employment. But, the fact that it's not just a small country, but the administration of a global religion deciding to make hiring disabled people a priority is at the very least interesting.

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