Andrew Pulrang

2/11/25 - U.S. employment, French housing, and checking in on flu and COVID

nTIDE February 2025 Jobs Report: Labor Force Participation Rate for People with Disabilities Hits an All-Time High Center for Research on Disability, University of New Hampshire - February 7, 2025 "Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Jobs Report released today, the labor force

2/10/25 - Trump Stuff: Medicaid; plus a new disability film

Starting today, I'm adding a new section to this weekday newsletter. Below the shared links you'll find a listing of "Action Alerts" on disability issues. Most of them will probably be about U.S. disability issues, though I would love to share similar alerts

2/7/25 - Friday Video Share

"How to tell people about the icky parts of paralysis" YouTube, Empowered Para - February 5, 2025 This seems like a very specific topic – how to explain paralysis-related bladder and bowel management to others. But it's also a pretty good summary of the arguments in favor

2/6/25 - USAID, mental health, and wheelchair accessories

Stop work Peter Torres Fremlin, Disability Debrief - February 5, 2025 "President Trump's freeze on foreign aid has caused an earthquake in international development and humanitarian efforts ... This irresponsible and callous move has brought life-saving work to an abrupt halt, along with essential services for the world&

2/5/25 - Trump Stuff followup, disability history, and keeping on

The Real Threat Behind Trump's Disability Comments: A Warning About What's Coming Kara Ayers, Mind Ramps - February 3, 2025 "The last couple of weeks have been called "shock and awe" because many have felt surprised by each of the new orders or

2/4/25 - Ableism unleashed, screening out, and ... reinventing the wheel?

Disability advocates fear backlash, discrimination after Trump’s FAA comments Brianna Tucker and Praveena Somasundaram, Washington Post - February 2, 2025 "“The President is deliberately spreading falsehoods to demonize the quarter of American adults who live with disabilities rather than directing federal resources at ensuring such a devastating tragedy

2/3/25 - Even More Trump Stuff: Air disaster aftermath

Trump Blames D.E.I. and Biden for Crash Under His Watch David E. Sanger, New York Times - January 30, 2025 "President Trump’s remarks, suggesting that diversity in hiring and other Biden administration policies somehow caused the disaster, reflected his instinct to immediately frame major events through

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Disability Thinking Weekday - January 2025 Recap

1/31/25 - Friday Video Share

“Judith Heumann’s Fight for Disability Rights (feat. Ali Stroker)" YouTube, Drunk History - March 25, 2020 It's been a frightening week for a lot of people, including people with disabilities. Today would probably be a day to share links related to President Trump's baseless

1/30/25 - Still More Trump Stuff

Trump White House reverses course, rescinds freeze on federal grants Jeff Stein and Tony Romm, Washington Post - January 29, 2025 "The Trump administration withdrew the order a day after a federal judge in Washington temporarily halted its implementation until Feb. 3, allowing public health advocates, nonprofits and businesses

1/29/25 - Trump Stuff: The Funding Freeze

Yesterday was a bad day for me to be unable to do a newsletter. But maybe it's good to have to wait 24 hours or so before sharing any links or commenting. As of the end of the day yesterday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the freeze from

1/27/25 - Trump Stuff: Medicaid, DEI, and remote work

Medicaid: What to Watch in 2025 Robin Rudowitz, Alice Burns, Elizabeth Hinton, and Jennifer Tolbert, KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) - January 23, 2025 "According to documents reported on by Politico, House Republicans are considering $2.3 trillion in Medicaid cuts from policy changes that include: imposing a per capita

1/24/25 - Friday Video Share

Discover accessible Germany Germany Tourism - November 27, 2024 This isn't exactly a challenging, cutting edge, emotional disability video. It's a tourism ad. But it's nice to see a national tourism agency making and effort to attract disabled tourists. I wonder if Donald Trump

1/23/25 - Emergencies, neglect, and a new disability podcast

Your Local Government Isn’t Ready to Evacuate Disabled People Julia Métraux, Mother Jones - January 18, 2025 "Peters also recommends a 'reach in' approach: not to assume a disabled person has no plan, but to ask about any plans they’ve already considered; and about practical

1/22/25 - Musk, Walz, and COVID

The autistic guide to waving exuberantly without accidentally Sieg Heiling Sara Gibbs, The Daily Tism - January 21, 2025 "As autistics, we recognise that this could happen to any one of us – so here’s a quick emergency guide to the dos and don’ts of waving without inadvertently

1/21/25 - Disabled migrants, an interabled marriage, and music accessibility

I want to start with a note to state what may be obvious to some of you, to others maybe not. There was no newsletter yesterday because it was Martin Luther King, Jr. day here in the U.S., which is a federal holiday. Of course, I don't

1/17/25 - Friday Video Share

Gaelynn Lea: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert NPR Music - March 11, 2016 The other day, a friend sent me a text message with a link, letting me know that disabled musician and activist Gaelynn Lea had shared a link on her Facebook page to this recent Disability Thinking Weekday

1/16/25 - Political parties, more on wildfires, and accessible safaris

Disability Victory Calls on DNC Leadership Candidates to Commit to Accessibility and Disability Rights Disability Victory - January 7, 2025 "As disabled-led and run organizations and allied organizations, we are committed to accessibility for all and a Democratic infrastructure that includes investing in disabled candidates and issues across the

1/15/25 - Able Accounts, Special Ed, and dealing with crowds

Able Accounts Are Changing Grace Dow, Grace Dow Writes - January 10, 2025 "I’ve used funds in my ABLE account to pay for vehicle repairs, college tuition, and rent.  Last year, I used some of my ABLE account funds to fix the air conditioner in my wheelchair van

1/14/25 - Home care, education, and more on disability and disasters

Before getting to today's links, I want to highlight some of the other parts of this new website for Disability Thinking Weekday. If you click the link here for the Home page, you will see a menu of other pages, including: About - Explaining what the site and

1/13/25 - L.A. Fires

Altadena family says disabled father and son were left to burn: ‘Nobody was coming’ Sonja Sharp, Lost Angeles Times - January 10, 2025 "'What hurts the most is that our state didn’t prepare for this at all,' Mitchell said. Officials have known for years that disabled

1/10/25 - Friday Video Share

Why do friends drift away in hard times? Mark Webb, TEDx Talks - April 25, 2024 Personal disability stories with simple messages don't always work. The "How I became disabled" genre, and, as Mark Webb notes in his presentation, the "quote from the video"

1/9/25 - The R-Word, AI, and disability fetish

I have a request before we get into today's three disability-related articles. I would like to feature more writing by disabled bloggers. The third item here today is by Grace Dow, who posts a blog just about every day. I'd like to highlight more writing like

1/8/25 - Medical debt, Medicaid cuts, and answering ableism

New federal rule will remove medical debt from credit reports Elizabeth Schulze, ABC News - January 7, 2025 "The rule would erase an estimated $49 billion in unpaid medical bills from the credit reports of roughly 15 million Americans, the CFPB said." Continuing with the cost of health

1/7/25 - COVID, medical bills, and approaching new year goals

Today's articles aren't as exclusively for disabled people as usual. They are all more or less relevant to anyone, disabled or not. But they all also have some more specific meanings for people with disabilities. 5 things we know and still don’t know about COVID,