Another midweek, and another three disability-related links, for Wednesday, June 26, 2024.
1. Healing is not linear
Alice Wong, Disability Visibility Newsletter - June 6, 2024
“Disabled life is precarious. Precarious not just by changes to the body, but the structural ableism that determines the conditions in which we live in.”
When you’re disabled, you don’t have to endure a rapid succession of medical traumas, administrative barriers, and financial catastrophe and transformation to understand how close the loss of independence can be. But when these things do all occur, more or less at once, it should be a reminder to all of us not to take our independence for granted. Those of us who have it could lose it at any time, no matter how healthy we try to keep ourselves, or how lucky we have been so far, or how skilled with think we are in self-advocacy. And that should cause us to keep the struggles of disabled people who don’t have independence at the top of our activism priorities. No disability-related “systems” are perfect. But they can all be better than they are. And we are pretty much the only ones who know how to accomplish this — and why doing so is so important.
2. Disabled woman trapped in apartment for months due to broken elevator
Emily Girsch, KOMO News - June 22, 2024
“‘They said it would be next year before they can get the parts and everybody together to get it done,’ she said … In emails to the property manager, Onyx Management Group, Topliss asked for reasonable accommodation and says it was denied. Instead, emails show management offered her a $75 discount on rent until the issue is fixed, and they recommended food delivery services in the meantime.”
It’s hard to maintain optimism in the long-term fight for disabled people’s stable independence and equal access when something as simple as fixing an elevator is beyond the capability — or interest — of a company running an apartment building. On the other hand, this is exactly the sort of disability injustice that can be easily corrected if the right handful of people get their act together and just decide to do it. It doesn’t take legislation — though better oversight and enforcement of accessibility and housing would certainly help. In the short term at least, all it takes is attention and an ounce of give-a-damn.
3. Couples say they can't get married because of this government program's outdated rules
Joseph Shapiro, National Public Radio - June 20, 2024
“An NPR investigation of SSI — a program run by the Social Security Administration — found that many disabled people get caught by this “marriage penalty,” a left-over rule from decades ago when government policies didn’t account for disabled people finding love and getting married.”
This is an evergreen issue for disabled people in the U.S. — and maybe in some other countries, too. If there are similar “marriage penalties” affecting disabled peoples’ benefits around the world, please comment below. And a day before the first Biden vs. Trump Presidential Debate, I can’t help thinking this would be a good thing to ask the candidates about on the debate stage. Asking Congressional candidates running this year wouldn’t be a bad idea either. It seems like exactly the sort of disability policy fix that might actually get some bipartisan support.
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