About:
This site is for aggregating breaking news and information about the state of disability rights and advocacy work in the United States, particularly the anti-DEIA attacks under the current administration, in an online space separate from the control of social media moguls.
Disability impacts people of every race, sex, gender, age, class, national origin, citizenship status, religion, political affiliation, and geographic location. Due to its intersectional nature, BIPOC disabled and other multiply-marginalized folks are disproportionately impacted by any attacks on accessibility, and disability justice is intertwined in all liberation movements.
- Week 32 Updates1. RFK Jr’s eugenic rampage continues to burn through the Department of Health and Human Services. RFK fired Susan Moneraz, Director of the Centers for Disease Control, throwing an already tumultuous climate at the institution in to chaos, and prompting several other high-level resignations at the institution. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, one of the scientists who… Read more: Week 32 Updates
- Week 31 Updates1. Starting tonight, the National Guard in DC will be armed, as Trump plans a deployment in 19 more states. As other states’ National Guard and federal DHS agents stage a hostile takeover of Washington DC, it’s common to see five or more soldiers taking down just one person–now they will have guns. Nearly 1000… Read more: Week 31 Updates
- Week 30 Update1. Trump Administration begins military takeover of DC, targeting unhoused. In conjunction with his executive order targeting unhoused people, and false claims of high crime rates, Trump deployed the National Guard in Washington DC and also attempted to order the Attorney General to take over the local police force. Initially the Guardspeople weren’t supposed to… Read more: Week 30 Update
- Week 29 Update
- Week 28 Update
- Week 27 Update
- Week 26 Update
- Week 25 Updates1. FEMA ends door to door assistance, leaving elderly and disabled stranded. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been a target of the Trump administration, with DOGE cutting 20% of its employees and attempting to freeze funds, and Trump repeatedly pushing for disaster response to be a state-level problem. Experts say a diminished FEMA… Read more: Week 25 Updates
- Week 24 Updates
- Week 23 UpdatesSCOTUS Decision Day: ❌ Limited power of federal judges to issue nationwide injunctions, consolidating power under executive branch (limits ability to stop Trump EOs, etc.) Only SCOTUS or class-action suits remain as judicial checks. ❌ Opened door to unconstitutional revoking of birthright citizenship. Removal of birthright citizenship in Germany is widely recognized by historians as… Read more: Week 23 Updates
- Week 22 Updates1. SCOTUS Upholds Ban on Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Minors. SCOTUS ruled 6-3 that states can ban trans minors from receiving gender-affirming care. Gender-affirming care can include psychological support, reversible puberty blockers, and hormone replacement therapy. In all but rare cases, surgery is not available to patients under 18. Less than 900 total surgeries on… Read more: Week 22 Updates
- Week 21 Update1. Department of Energy leads new attack on Section 504 Over the past several weeks, the Department of Energy has been working to weaken Section 504, a statute that protects disabled people’s right to enter and be accommodated in any spaces that receive federal funding, including government buildings, public schools, hospitals that accept Medicaid, and… Read more: Week 21 Update
- Week 20 Updates1. WH loses appeal on Dept of Ed layoffs: A federal district court had previously barred the Department of Education from going through with the layoffs of about half its staff. Secretary of the department former WWE exec Linda McMahon testified before Congress that they had done no studies or analysis about how the layoffs… Read more: Week 20 Updates
- Week 19 Updates
- Week 18 Updates
House passes budget bill containing deep cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, Dept. of Ed. 215 Republican Representatives voted for Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” advancing plans to cut Medicaid/care, SNAP, HUD and education funding in order to up DHS spending and extend tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy. - Template for requesting doctors do not share medical informationHello! We aren’t lawyers, just regular people sharing regular-person advice. This template was originally posted on the Legally Autistic FB page, and shared with us via E. Thunderwood on Instagram. Thanks to them for their hard work on this matter. It’s unclear, given the breadth of the current administrations’ defiance of laws, as well as… Read more: Template for requesting doctors do not share medical information
- Week 17 Updates
Budget Reconciliation attempts back-door closure of DoED. The GOP proposes to dismantle key programs and change the way IDEA and other special education programming is funded, using “no strings attached” block grants to states, which will be suggested, but not required, for special education use. This is dangerous, as we are already seeing districts pull money from special institutions in light of budget cuts elsewhere. - Week 16 Update
IDEA funding and enforcement threatened by block grants. In keeping with Project 2025, the White House’s budget requests called for a shift of how funding for special education is disbursed. Currently, DoEd provided formula grants calculated by a variety of data points and given to states with the requirement that they be used for special education. - Week 15 Update
1. White House releases harrowing budget requests. On Friday, the White House released their budget request to Congress. The 46 pg document seeks massive cuts for almost all social and educational programs domestically and internationally, cuts totaling $163 billion. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security are two of the handful of that see increased spending… Read more: Week 15 Update - Week 14 Update
HHS announces plan to build a registry of autistic people. This week, the HHS announced plans to use private health data, from medical records down to wearable smart tech, to create a government registry of autistic people. The announcement sparked privacy concerns and comparisons to the 1939 registry for disabled children as part of T4, a program for the mass murder of 300K+ disabled people across occupied Europe.
Our Deal:
Who are you?
We’re a group of disabled people and allies seeking to provide timely and accurate disability-rights related information, which is often underreported in the mainstream media.
How do I cite this?
Unless an author or signer is otherwise noted, you can just call us the Disability Rights Watch collective. We’ll also always link to secondary sources when available.
But who are your “inside sources”?
Verified federal employees working in various agencies, whose identities we will protect, obviously.
What if I have a tip?
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