Disability Rights Watch

Category: Weekly Update

  • ICE and Disability Updates (8 March)

    1. Deaf six-year-old and family deported after legal immigration check-in. Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, and her sons (5 and 6) have been deported after Gutierrez attended her legal immigration check-in appointment. The family’s lawyer was unable to locate them for several days, before confirming their deportation to Colombia. Gutierrez’s 6-year-old is deaf and a student at California School for the Deaf-Fremont.

      The child was deported without access to his listening devices, and it’s unclear what, if any, access to language he has within his family. in Colombia, he will be linguistically isolated, as Colombian Sign Language is different from the American Sign Language with which he grew up.

      Action Items: Contact the family’s CA Representative, Eric Swalwell at 202-225-5065 and ask him to demand this family’s return home. A call script is here.

      If you are able, donate or share the family’s fundraiser to support interpreter and legal costs here.

      2. Deaf 12-year-old and family have been moved to undisclosed warehouse location in AZ after speaking to the press at Dilley Detention Center. Deaf 12-year-old Anyeli Valentino Quintero, her three-year-old-brother, and mom had previously been held at Dilley. Their mother had spoken to the press about conditions there, and her son having turned 3 in detention, and the family has since been moved to a warehouse location in AZ, seemingly as retribution. They had one phone call to contact family and do not know exactly where they are being held.

      The family, originally from Venezuela, currently has an active appeal on their asylum case.

      Action item: Share this story, which hasn’t yet been picked up by the mainstream media. If in Arizona, please call your Representatives and demand transparency about detention locations and conditions in your state.

  • February 2026 Updates

    1. Border Patrol causes death of blind Rohingya refugee in Buffalo, NY. 56 year-old Nurul Amin Shah Alam was detained on February 19th and released the same day. However, instead of being returned home, Alam was dropped on a corner five miles from his home with no phone or assistance. Alam was blind and did not speak English, and his family was not alerted to his release, so they were unaware they should be looking for him. He died in the cold, his body identified five days later.

      DHS/ICE continues to harm disabled people at high rates, both in direct interactions, in substandard access to medical care and basic sanitation in detention, as well as by separating families and caregivers.
    2. HHS announces new cuts targeting medical suppliers, Medicaid/are cuts. This week Dr. Oz created particular confusion in a video announcing a “pause” on Medicare enrollment for medical suppliers; inconsistent captioning made it appear that individuals would be barred from purchasing medical supplies (e.g. oxygen, wheelchairs, crutches, prostheses, etc.).

      In actuality, according to the HHS press release, the restriction is on people trying to open up new medical supply stores. While this may affect some folks’ ability to access supplies in places where suppliers are already limited, it will not close existing suppliers or prevent individuals from ordering supplies.

      A more concerning development announced in the same briefing is the withholding of $259 million in Medicaid and Medicare funding for Minnesota. The decision, which the Trump administration blamed on a vague concern about “fraud” is more likely retaliatory political move due to recent clashes with DHS, including violent protest repression tactics, illegal arrests, two high-profile murders of American citizens by ICE agents caught on camera. The cuts will affect mostly home and community-based services that serve disabled and chronically-ill people.
    3. Nine states revive a lawsuit against Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. This is an updated version of the previous lawsuit Texas vs. Becerra , later Texas vs. Kennedy brought by 17 states, which had argued that both Section 504 and an affiliated, non-legally binding Biden-era “Final Rule” regarding protections for people with gender dysphoria were unconstitutional.

      After the Kennedy administration took power and removed trans protections from Final Rule, many states withdrew, but 9 states filed a new version of the lawsuit seeking to declare another part of Final Rule–a piece that protects disabled people’s rights to live in community in “the most integrated setting“–is unconstitutional. If successful, many disabled people will lose access to supports that allow them to be independent and live and work in their home communities, leaving them at high risk for forced institutionalization.

  • Weeks 43-44 Updates

    1. Trump and McMahon further dismantle Department of Education, moving programs to Department of Labor, Interior, and HHS. The relocated programs include Title 1, teacher training grants, English learner programs, TRIO, adult education, Native education, foreign language programs, foreign med-school accreditation, and student-parent grants.

      The move of programs along with DoEd’s press release touting an increased focus on vocational training and workplace preparedness, suggests a dangerous shift for pubic education. Students deserve a robust education no matter their income bracket, geographic locations, etc. Disabled students at Title 1 or Native education programs will likely be intersectionally harmed without DoED oversight.

      The increased focus on workplace and vocational language and placement is particularly concerning with respect to the Trump administration’s rollback of many child labor laws earlier in the year.

      Special education will stay within DoED for now, though it is unclear what work or oversight is happening due to the firing of OSERS employees during the shutdown, who have not been reinstated. Project 2025 also proposes eventually carving up special education to be moved to Department of Labor and HHS.
    2. Many students in health and education professionals will face issues securing federal loans due to graduate degree reclassification. The government proposed a cap on Graduate Plus loans for all but a very small number of “professional degrees” this week. Previously, graduate degrees in fields like Education, Nursing, Social Work, Public Health, Occupational Physical and Speech Therapy, Audiology, Counseling, Engineering and others were eligible for an extended $200,000 cap on federal loans.

      Without access to funding, only the wealthy will be able to access graduate level degrees in a variety of fields, many of which are already experiencing staffing shortages. Healthcare and education fields also tend to be women and/or BIPOC-dominated; the goal of lessening of women’s employment outside the home was outlined in Project 2025.
    3. RFK Jr. orders CDC to include false information about vaccines and autism on official website, despite previous walk-backs of his claims. The changes came to the website late this week, and mark another dangerous shift in ableist and eugenic rhetoric by the department, further hampering the public’s access to quality, evidence-based scientific health information.

      The US is already on the precipice of losing its measles-free designation within the next several months due to antivax rhetoric and fearmongering.
    4. Despite government reopening and multiple court orders, many SNAP/EBT recipients still have not received November benefits, as USDA threatens to “completely deconstruct” the program and/or force everyone to reapply.
      Many of the Democratic politicians who voted in favor of ending the government shutdown cited concern about the illegal withholding of SNAP benefits, but that has continued in the days since. Some states blame a software glitch, while other delays are unspecified. Governors also reported LIHEAP (subsidies for heating and cooling homes) and Head Start delays.

      The Secretary of the USDA also released a frightening proposal about how to revamp the program to decrease expenses and prevent “fraud.” However, most SNAP fraud is related to identity theft, card cloning, or retailer-application fraud, not recipients receiving aid who don’t need it.
    5. Local: Abortion is now illegal in North Dakota, carrying a five year prison sentence. The state’s Supreme Court reversed another judge’s decision Friday, upholding the ban.

      12 other states also currently have abortion bans at all stages of pregnancy.

      Reproductive rights are a healthcare and disability justice issue, just as forcible sterilization, remains a concern for disabled people across the US. (It’s still legal to forcibly sterilize a disabled person in 31 states and DC, and the US Supreme Court case allowing it has never been overturned.) Fair reproductive healthcare is for everybody.
    6. Trump revives first-term policy penalizing legal residents’ use of Medicaid or other assistant programs. The proposal suggests legally present, documented immigrants should not be penalized and not allowed to continue their path to permanent residency or citizenship if they have used Medicaid or other assistance programs.

      This was a first-term policy that was ignored and then officially rescinded by Biden in 2022. The policy will give more power to immigration officers to make judgement calls on who might “burden” the US.

      In actuality, healthcare professionals say it will burden the hospital system for all, as people will not be able to access preventative care and will have to turn to emergency rooms instead in order to see a doctor or get medication. DHS is accepting public comment on the change for the next 30 days.

  • Weeks 40-42 Updates

    1. Government shutdown reaches record-breaking lengths as Trump Administration defies court order to fund SNAP. The shutdown passed the 35 day-mark this week, breaking the record previously also held by Trump. Trump recently doubled down on threats not to pay backpay, though they have found “workarounds” to continue to pay the military, ICE, and for White House demolition.

      SNAP funding, which should have been released November 1st, was not paid, leaving many families without the means to buy food. Historically, SNAP funding has been protected and continued without delay under all other government shutdowns. The USDA has an emergency fund to cover some of the gap, but initially declined to use it. After a class-action lawsuit by several states, a federal judge compelled the administration to fund SNAP last week.

      At first they said they would comply and fund 50%, but Trump then backtracked on social media, saying they would not provide funding. With conflicting accounts from the President, USDA, and others inside the White House, the actual status of the delayed funds remains unclear.

      SNAP, also known as EBT or food stamps, primarily provides monetary support to the disabled, elderly, or working poor with children in purchasing food. About 42 million Americans receive some benefits, calculated based on family size, location, and income levels. SNAP has strict work requirements, and often benefits are temporary for people experiencing new unemployment or a natural disaster.

      SNAP reduces food insecurity, medical costs, and is good for the economy, providing a 150% return on investment for every $1 spent. It can only be used to purchase food and produce–it cannot buy hot meals, household cleaners, diapers, toilet paper or hygiene products, or any nonfood items or services.
    2. New SNAP restrictions under the Big Beautiful Bill also take affect. Even if and when SNAP benefits return, many will find their eligibility restricted due to the implementation of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. The changes include even stricter work requirements, upping the required age for work from 54 to 64, and lowering the child age of parent exemption from 18 to 14. Eligibility has also been taken away from lawful immigrant recipients–previously some refugee groups were eligible for SNAP, but now must wait five years.
    3. RFK Jr walks back claims that Tylenol causes autism after pressed for evidence. RFK Jr. admitted in a press conference last week that there isn’t actually good evidence linking Tylenol to autism.

      Unfortunately, given that the origins of the modern-day antivaxxer movement stems from a widely debunked paper by a grifter who lost his medical license, retractions seldom help after the misinformation has already spread, unless robust counter-education initiatives are launched.
    4. Health insurance premiums set to spike as Republicans threaten Affordable Care Act subsidies. Democrats have said the reason for the government shutdown is because Republicans have refused to contend with renewing the ACA premiums, which are set to expire. Without them, families purchasing health insurance will see their premiums go up at an average of about 114%.

      American healthcare is already one of the most expensive among peer nations, both per capita and as a share of the economy. On average, other large and wealthy countries pay about half as much.
    5. Blind man dragged into ICE facility and detained after crossing a line agents painted on the ground to denote a “trespassing zone” during ongoing protests. Video shows the man sitting on the curb in a neon vest near the painted line before agents surrounded him and dragged him violently into the South Portland facility.
    6. Department of HHS adds new metric to measure employee performance: loyalty to Trump. Annual performance reviews will now include whether the workers “clearly and demonstrably support the implementation” of Trump’s agenda.

      This (probably illegal) litmus test stands to further gut the already decimated department, where the administration has already fired thousands of scientists and cut grants for life-saving research.

    Action Items:

    Get your vaccinations up to date as soon as possible. Due to widespread antivax sentiment, the US is poised to lose its measles-free designation. Ask your state to join a state-level public health collaborative (a body that issues governing advice from medical professionals instead of a partisan CDC) if they haven’t yet.

    Protect your neighbors. Warn and record in the presence of ICE. Push your local officials not to collaborate.

    Donate to your money, time, food, or skills to a local food pantry or shelter. Often food pantries can purchase more food wholesale than we can provide, so cash donations are best, but many organizations also have specific lists available online for needed items. You can also donate time to pack and deliver food, or computer skills in helping spread the word about needed items or pick up locations.

    Also consider libraries, clinics, cash bail funds, or other mutual aid if you can.

    Hit the streets if you are able. March, attend a town hall, school board meeting, or other local action. Go, (but don’t RSVP, wtf) to a protest! Consider purchasing a reusable respirator (gas mask) if attending a mass protest, due to recent escalations in use of tear gas and other “less lethal” force at actions.

    Call your representatives and especially your local officials to ensure special education gaps are being filled in your district.

    Move to (more) secure communications when possible. Consider encrypted messaging apps like Signal, or communicate in-person when possible about sensitive issues, particularly ICE-related. Think about ways to spread information offline and locally. Make flyers and stickers. Make art.

  • Week 36 + 37 Updates

    1. RFK Jr. and Trump deliver multiple anti-scientific rants about Tylenol and vaccines in connection to autism. After promising to find the “cause” for autism by September, HHS’s RFK Jr. delivered a series of unhinged press conferences about the dangers of Tylenol. He cited a small and since debunked study that found a slight correlation between Tylenol-use during pregnancy and autism rates of children.

      The study was later thrown out— doctors noted an already known risk factor to fetal development is the activation of the maternal immune system. Given that pregnant women’s Tylenol use would overlap with illness, it would be difficult to parse these variables. Later, a much larger sibling study found no correlation between Tylenol use and autism rates.

      The latest rants are dangerous and cruel, given that Tylenol is one of the only approved medications for pain and fever relief during pregnancy. Fever during pregnancy is another risk factor for birth defects and other fetal harm. They’re also a grift– one supposed “cure” for the reversal of autism RFK suggests is a B vitamin-derivative supplement, a popular version that comes from a competitor to Tylenol’s parent company, iHerb, of which Dr. Oz is an investor. Oz had previously said he would divest from the company when appointed to his Medicare position, but whether he did is unclear. The FDA reasserted on Twitter/X that only a prescription form of the product is recommended for certain patients following a blood test, but that hasn’t stopped the explosion of promotion and sales across MAHA platforms.

      Trump and MAHA also took aim at the administration of Hepatitis B shots, as well as Vitamin K shots, to infants, suggesting the former should be held off until tweendom due to the sexually transmitted nature of the disease. However, victims of permanent liver damage from Hepatitis B are overwhelmingly infants, and Vitamin K prevents brain hemorrhage and death in newborns. Vitamin K does not cross the placenta or into breastmilk efficiently; death from Vitamin K deficiency bleeding is 81 times less likely in those infants who receive the shot.
    2. Republicans leave DC to avoid negotiation on healthcare subsidies, triggering government shutdown. Congress was set to negotiate on a budget bill, but Speaker Johnson sent the Republicans home instead. Democrats had said they would not pass the bill as is, requesting that healthcare subsidies be extended to offset rising costs. Healthcare subsidies not only help people to purchase insurance in the marketplace, but this infusion of money into the system protects everyone from the closure of clinics and hospitals who rely on Medicaid/care and insurance dollars.

      The shutdown furloughs many government workers, with others performing essential functions without pay. Experts worry that a prolonged shutdown could also harm the distribution of life-saving services like WIC supplemental nutrition. The last government shutdown was in 2018, also under Trump.
    3. Despite ACIP’s recommendations, several states are still blocking access to covid vaccines without a prescription. Missouri, Georgia, and Louisiana are still preventing people from getting covid vaccines without a prescription, despite recommendations out of the CDC’s immunization committee.

      Experts speculate this is because no CDC director has signed off on the recommendations, since Trump fired the CDC director. However, none of the state laws stipulate a CDC signature must be in place for the recommendations to be adopted.
    4. Congress fails to pass extensions–Medicare’s coverage for telehealth speech therapy and audiology services has ended. These services were essential for families especially in rural areas where they may otherwise face multi-hour drives and long waitlists.
    5. The First Circuit Court of Appeals rules that the Department of Education is allowed to fire half its’ Civil Rights Department staff. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) inside DoED exists specifically to protect students facing discrimination or those who have experienced sexual assault, and the process of filing a complaint can, in many places, already take years.

      Halving the staff essentially removes consequences for perpetrators of racism, ableism, sexism, sexual abuse, and the intersections thereof, and will be devastating to the equitable education and safety of marginalized students.
    6. Department of Education partners with Turning Point, Moms for Liberty to create new “patriotic” history and civics curriculum.
      DoEd announced an initiative to create a new history and civics curriculum lead by far-right extremist organizations. The curriculum will likely continue propagate racist erasures of US history and anti-DEIA book bans, two pet projects of the involved groups.

      Previously, DoEd was not involved in creating specific curriculum–this decision was left up to individual states and districts.

      Public comment on the initiative is now open until October 17.
    7. Good News: Some mental health grants for schools have been restored. McMahon’s Department of Education had previously cut a billion dollars worth of grants geared toward student mental health, but, due to backlash, recently restored $270 million. The restored grants focus on school psychologists, only, and leave out counselors and social workers, but they do serve as proof that backlash and public comment can still be effective.

      What to Do:
      Get your vaccinations up to date as soon as possible, and ask your state to join a state-level public health collaborative if they haven’t yet.

      Hit the streets if you are able. March, attend a town hall, school board meeting, or other local action. Go, but don’t RSVP, to a protest! Consider purchasing a reusable respirator (gas mask) if attending a mass protest, due to recent escalations in use of tear gas and other “less lethal” force at actions.

      Protect your neighbors. Warn and record in the presence of ICE. Push your local officials not to collaborate. Write to Apple to tell them their blocking of the ICE Block app is unacceptable capitulation.

      Call your representatives and especially your local officials to ensure special education gaps are being filled in your district.

      Leave a public comment saying no to forced Turning Point history curriculum in public schools.

      Donate to your local food pantry, library, clinics, cash bail funds, or other mutual aid if you can. Or volunteer your time.

      Make a plan to vote in upcoming local elections, in person when possible. Down ballot elections matter more than ever.

      Move to (more) secure encrypted apps when possible. Think about ways to spread information offline. Make flyers and stickers. Make art.

  • Week 33 Updates

    1. Chaos hits pharmacies as CDC’s delayed approval of covid vax causes confusion, barriers to access. Covid surged to the highest levels in the US since the 2021 Delta variant–in response, CDC stopped tracking the data.

      Meanwhile, vaccine rollout was stymied as many states have regulations requiring CDC approval for a vaccine before it can be administered by a pharmacist. The board, now populated with antivaxxer friends of RFK, is expected to meet later in the month.

      At first, the vaccine was completely unavailable in at least 16 states, with others requiring a prescription. Several states have since revised regulations, allowing other the recommendations of other medical bodies to serve in place of the largely absent CDC. As of Sunday, vaccine access is legally as follows, though individual access may be stricter due to confusion and/or ideological refusals.

    ID: map of the US with states in green (available) green stripe (newly available due to regulations circumventing CDC) yellow (need RX) and purple (unavailable)
    Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/DORYoaUjhBM/

    2. RFK revives bogus claim that Tylenol in pregnancy is linked to autism. After receiving blowback for causing vaccine-related turmoil and a conspiracy-addled testimony before Congress that had many leaders and his own family calling for his resignation, RFK Jr. is returning his attention to attacking autistic folks and their families, now through the reintroduction of a fake link between Tylenol consumption during pregnancy to autism rates.

    RFK and HHS had previously said they would announce the “cause” of autism in September, and sources at the HHS say the announcement will involve Tylenol.

    The vast majority of studies have shown no link between Tylenol consumption with autism diagnoses. One study the administration is focusing on showed a very small increase in incidences; however, that study later overturned its findings using sibling analysis, finding no link.

    In addition to being false, the accusation places blame and will likely cause undue fear on pregnant people who use the only pregnancy-approved medication for pain. Multiple evidence-based scientific studies have determined that autism is overwhelmingly genetic.

    3. Florida Surgeon General announces plans to end all vaccine mandates for schoolchildren, as cases of whooping cough and measles rise. Harvard-educated Dr. Ladapo said that the move was “not actually a scientific debate” but an ideological one aimed at appealing to “parent’s interest”.

    Ladopo, a longtime antivaxxer, went on to compare vaccine mandates to slavery. Ladopo doesn’t have unilateral control over the mandates, so it will be on state legislature to fully eradicate them.

    Multiple cases of tuberculosis surface in and around Portland, Maine, as well as in several other states. RFK Jr. ordered CDC officials to hide the data. 28 cases have been reported in Maine since July, stemming from multiple sources. Some are believed to be linked to the consumption of raw milk, while other cases have person-to-person or unknown origin.

    Known as the world’s deadliest respiratory disease, tuberculosis can be latent for years before becoming active, so the uptick in cases is generally considered a marker of the declining health of a population weakened by other conditions (covid, inconsistent access to healthcare, decreased vaccine uptake).

    DOGE’s decision to end USAID will likely have huge long-term effects on tuberculosis cases in the US, and a 28-32% uptick of the disease globally, as people visit or immigrate from other countries with higher infection rates (many asymptomatic at the time or not knowing they are infected at all). Previously, USAID programs helped with cost and distribution of the months’ long antibiotic regimen required to cure the disease.

    Trump attempts to rename the Department of Defense and announces he will send troops to Chicago via ill-conceived Vietnam War movie meme. This week Trump announced that he will rename the Department of Defense to “The Department of War” (a move he is legally not allowed to make unilaterally), then immediately released meme misinterpreting the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now to announce the impending deployment of troops to the city of Chicago (a move he is legally not allowed to make unilaterally). He also mentioned Baltimore and New Orleans as future targets.

    As in DC, a deployment of the National Guard or other military occupation against civilians is dangerous for people, particularly the unhoused, immigrants, disabled people, and people of color. It also functions as a superspreading event, sending covid infection rates surging.

    The Governor of IL and mayor of Chicago have repeatedly said troops are not necessary or welcome in the city, which is experiencing lower than average crime rates at this time.

    What to do:

    Get vaccinated if you can, as soon as possible!

    If you live in Florida, contact your state representatives and tell them not to remove vaccine guidelines for schoolchildren.

    Call your state officials and ask them how they can facilitate access to covid vaccines in lieu of federal leadership, especially if the CDC refuses to approve the vaccine.

    Hit the streets if you are able. March, attend a town hall, school board meeting, or other local action.

    Protect your neighbors. Warn and record in the presence of ICE. Push your local officials not to collaborate.

    Donate to your local food pantry, library, clinics, cash bail funds, or other mutual aid if you can. Or volunteer your time.

    Think about ways to spread information offline. Make flyers and stickers. Make art.

    1. Week 30 Update

      1. 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 be armed, but that was a lie.

      The forces have already begun massive sweeps and arrests against unhoused (or perceived unhoused) people, and Ohio and South Carolina have pledged more forces.

      The hostile takeover by the federal government and other capitulating states’ militias–a key part of Project 2025 and paralleled by many historical authoritarians–is meeting little pushback from establishment Dems. Several motions in court aim to block the actions. Unclear whether rule of law remains.
      Approximately half of unhoused people have a disability and 8% are military veterans.

      2.RFK Jr Plans to Remove Preventative Care Taskforce/Guidelines. RFK Jr. announced plans to remove the Preventative Medicine Taskforce, which he called “too woke,” sparking “deep concerns” from the American Medical Association and others.

      The Taskforce, which is nonpartisan and has been vetted for any conflicts of interest, offers evidence-based guidance on preventative medicine for a range of conditions, like when patients should have cancer or diabetes screenings, HIV preventatives and cholesterol medication.

      Without taskforce guidance, patients will have more inconsistent care, and insurance companies may not pay for preventative screenings or appointments.

      3. They’re messing with the elections, continued. The Texas legislature continues its pursuit of illegal redistricting after Trump asked the state to find him five more red seats. Texas Dems are returning to the state, and the proceedings will likely continue.

      Meanwhile, Callais v. Landry, a Louisiana-based redistricting case that is poised to destroy Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act remains on the SCOTUS shadow docket, with a date set for October. In California, Governor Newsom has threatened to make similar redistricting moves in his state in order to secure more blue districts to offset the Texas ones.

      While Newsom’s stylized tweets have gone viral for annoying Trump, ultimately gerrymandering continues to contribute to voter suppression and is unlikely to end in TX, CA, or LA.

      6. Trump tries new defunding tactics for DoEd, pushes conservative curriculum. The Trump Administration continues to attempt back door defunding of DoED. The latest: Congress is currently negotiating the bipartisan version of their budget bill. However, the Administration has already said DoED funding will be removed later via rescissions package. This move only requires 50 votes.

      Rescissions is also how funding already allocated to PBS was revoked by the administration earlier this summer. At least ten states are planning to use ultraconservative children’s materials out of PragerU (an unaccredited think tank pretending to be a university) to fill the gap.

      Prager’s materials include animated videos in which cartoon historical figures present imagined “anti-woke” talking points, like one in which Christopher Columbus tells children slavery is, “better than being killed” and Frederick Douglass calls it, “a compromise.”

      7. Local: PA GOP refuses to fund mass transit, devastating cities, statewide economy. GOP-led PA failed to pass comprehensive funding for the South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority and other mass transit across the state.
      Specifically, SEPTA, serving Philadelphia and its suburbs, will see 20% service cuts and 21.5% fare raises staring this month. The removal of bus lines, fewer regional rail times and 9PM curfews, and the elimination of special events trains will devastate both worker and tourist mobility.

      Despite chronic underfunding and restrictions that prohibit Philadelphia itself from delegating more funding, SEPTA uses their funds most efficiently per capita compared to other authorities, and provides a 70% return on investment, as Philly functions as a main economic engine for a largely rural state.

      Philadelphia’s population is 40% Black and has the highest percentage of disabled residents of a major US city–marginalized and working class people will bear the burden of these cuts.

      8. Local: Arkansas School Discipline ACT 565 and 804
      ACT 565 stipulates that students removed from a classroom for behavioral reasons cannot be reinstated into the classroom if the behavior affected a teacher or student negatively.

      ACT 804 “Law Concerning the Use of Positive Behavioral Supports in Public School Districts” removes language that implements other behavioral protocol before seclusion or restraint.

      Any educational law that dictates blanket policy on behavioral protocol or classroom placement is violation of FAPE and the IEP process.

      Disabled and BIPOC children are disproportionately impacted by punitive disciplinary policies in public schools.

      9. Silicon Valley proposes eugenics as solution to fears of hostile AI takeover. Recently, leaders in the Silicon Valley sphere have presented a solution to fears of an eventual hostile AI takeover, and reports that conversing with AI has caused mental health issues: eugenics.

      Prenatal eugenic “enhancement” has long been a darling project of the techbro set, but now they are explicitly advocating for modifications made to embryos that might ensure a “higher IQ” for the resulting child, in order to combat future issues with AI.

      Advocates argue that this is not the same as the “bad kind of eugenics.” However, given the racist and ableist foundations of IQ, its obvious that they are of a piece.

      Historically, eugenics has always been framed in a positive light as a way to “advance” the human race, and has always resulted in the forced sterilization and/or murder of those deemed “undesirable” by those in power.

      Action Items: Share this info! Disability is often lost in mainstream coverage.

      Hit the streets if you are able. March, attend a town hall, school board meeting, or other local action.

      Protect your neighbors. Warn and record in the presence of ICE. Push your local officials not to collaborate.

      Donate to your local food pantry, library, clinics, cash bail funds, or other mutual aid if you can. Or volunteer your time.

      Call your Senators: YES to the Appropriations Committee’s push back on budget cuts and support for DC.

      Make sure you’re up to date on your vaccines. Ditch the wearable tech and AI when possible.

      Think about ways to spread information offline. Make flyers and stickers. Make art.

    2. Week 27 Update

      1. Executive Order: Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets. Trump signed an executive order this week telling cities to remove unhoused people from the streets as a way to “reduce crime”. While an EO is not a law, it makes it easier for city officials to remove unhoused people and to involuntarily commit them, because it instructs Attorney General Bondi to reverse other federal and state regulations that previously limited this authority.

        The EO is reminiscent of the Ugly Laws, a series of local laws that prohibited unhoused and disabled people from being in public places that were in place across the US from the turn of the 20th century. The last of those laws wasn’t repealed until the 1970s. A SCOTUS decision okaying the forcible sterilization of disabled people in state custody has never been overturned.
      2. Department of Education releases withheld funds. DoEd had previously been illegally withholding over five billion dollars from K-12 schools. Districts had been expecting the funds on July 1st , and were already depending on them to provide staff and resources for the Fall.

        The funds were largely earmarked for teacher training and before and after school care programs as well as summer programs already in swing. Several states had filed suit to pressure DoEd to release the money.
      3. Deaf Californian kidnapped by ICE. 32-year-old Javier Diaz Santana, a Deaf resident of LA, was detained when an ICE raid came to the car wash where he worked. Though he is a legal resident with a Real ID, agents confiscated his wallet and arrested him anyway.

        Santana is a DACA recipient who came to the US with his family when he was five years old. While in detention, Santana was denied an interpreter and given materials to read and sign in Spanish, a language he doesn’t know. DHS denies these claims and says they provided him with a “communication board.”

        Santana is just another of many disabled people kidnapped by ICE and held in squalid conditions without accommodations or information.
      4. Department of Education watchdog fired. Earlier in the year the Trump administration fired 17 Inspectors General. This month, the administration removed the Inspector in charge of serving as watchdog for the Department of Education.

        The watchdog was demoted and replaced for investigating the illegal withholding of education funds that began on July 1st. Removing oversight that asks questions or critiques (illegal) activity to replace them with party loyalists is a concerning move common to authoritarian governments.
      5. Local: Tennessee school district will no longer accept doctors’ notes for absences. One Tennessee school district has changed their policy for the new school year and will no longer allow excused absences, even with a doctor’s note.

        The district instructs families to send their children to school sick. If the nurse deems them ill enough to go home, they will be marked as “tardy.” Students who miss more than eight days of school per year will be sent to juvenile court.

        This eugenic policy is obviously discriminatory toward disabled and chronically ill children, both those who may be absent from school more than 8 days, and those while will suffer catching increased sickness from ill peers. Disabled and immunocompromised teachers are also at risk. The district has said exceptions may be made for “verified chronic conditions” but did not elaborate.

        Action items: Share this info! Disability is often lost in mainstream coverage.

        Hit the streets if you are able. It’s past due.

        Protect your neighbors. Warn and record in the presence of ICE. Push your local officials not to collaborate.

        Boycott businesses supporting these policies. Donate to your local food pantry, library, clinics, cash bail funds, or other mutual aid if you can. Or volunteer your time.

        Contact your local officials and congresspeople and ask them to protect election integrity.

        Make sure you’re up to date on your vaccines. Ditch the wearable tech.

        Consider running for local office or getting involved to support a local candidate through organizing or phone banking–especially progressive primary challengers.

        Think about ways to spread information offline. Make flyers and stickers. Make art.

    3. Week 26 Update

      1. SCOTUS rules on Dept of Ed. case, approving mass layoffs and paving the way for the dismantling of the department. SCOTUS ruled that DoEd’s mass layoffs (or RIFs)–attempted in March but temporarily stopped by a lower court–are allowed to move forward.

        This includes many positions that are required to be filled by law, ex: IDEA, The Education of the Deaf Act. However, SCOTUS has allowed the administration to ignore the law, and opened the door for further layoffs. Only Congress can legally dismantle a department, but the administration is already ignoring the law, and if no one works there, DoEd will not function.

        This is in conjunction with the illegal withholding of previously approved funds from July 1, and the trashing of several thousand civil rights complaints. DoEd employees are now scheduled to leave Aug 1.
      2. George Retes found and released; deaf Mongolian man remains in ICE detention. Retes, a 25 year old disabled US Army veteran was working as a security guard on a farm in Camarillo, CA. Though he is a US citizen, he was kidnapped from his car by ICE, and held for several days.

        A deaf Mongolian man who was attempting to seek asylum following legal protocol continues to be detained for over four months, without due process or a sign language interpreter. ICE agents reportedly attempted to use Google Translate with him, resulting in severe miscommunications on basic facts.

        These disabled men are just two of many kidnapped by ICE and held in squalid conditions without accommodations or information.
      3. Department of Labor to allow subminimum wage to continue. A Department of Labor statute giving businesses “sheltered workshop certifications” has long been a loophole for employers of severely disabled people to pay them less than minimum wage. Half the people employed under this statute are paid less than $3.50 an hour.

        Biden’s Department of Labor had started to repeal the rule, but the Trump administration has rolled back that request.

        The fight for wage equality must include disabled people, who face massive inequities with respect to sheltered workshops, general employment discrimination, disproportionate benefits compared to cost of living and inflation, and loss of benefits when getting married.
      4. Department of Labor to end hiring goal for disabled federal contractors. In 2013, the Obama DoL implemented a rule with a goal of at least employing disabled federal contractors at a rate of at least 7%.

        This was to comply with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, and help combat high rates of unemployment discrimination for disabled people. The program long been considered a successful step in improving wage and employment gaps for disabled workers. About 25% of people in the US have some type of disability, so even 7% is far below population representation.

        The Trump DoL will now repeal the rule, and stop tracking any data on disability within federal contracting.
      5. Insurance costs spike under new GOP budget. The GOP budget passed on July 4th, teeing up Medicaid and Medicare cuts that will harm the quality of life for many disabled people, and are expected to kill over 51,000 people annually from otherwise preventable deaths.

        Those who buy private insurance on the ACA marketplace will also be affected. Biden had previously provided subsidies to help with high payments, but they are now expiring. More than a quarter of providers are planning a rate hike of 20% or more.

        The new law also makes it harder to enroll in health insurance on the marketplace by shortening enrollment window and denying enrollment for those with outstanding balances.
      6. Dept. of Justice makes concerning move toward English-only services and materials. The memo says the department will “lead a coordinated effort to minimize non-essential multilingual services, redirect resources toward English-language education and assimilation, and ensure compliance with legal obligations through targeted measures where necessary.”

        This is a concern for all English language learners. Disabled people and/or signed languages are neither explicitly mentioned or excluded, (except citing case law that said offering disability/ss applications in English only is not a legal violation). It is unclear but concerning how this will impact deaf and hard-of-hearing people and others who use signed languages to communicate.
      7. They’re messing with the elections. The Department of Justice is making an unprecedented demand for sensitive election data. The request include access to voter rolls and in some cases “all records.” This is an abnormal request and it is unclear what the DOJ wants that data for. The requests went mainly to swing states, but others were included, too.

        Meanwhile, Texas is seeking to illegally redistrict to add five congressional seats in projected “red” areas. This is illegal, as new maps are not due to be drawn until 2031.

        Contact your local officials and demand they protect election integrity in your state. Folks both in and outside of Texas can also contact congress to stop the illegal redistricting. Templates are available for residents of any state to use.
      8. Action items: Share this info! Disability is often lost in mainstream coverage.

        Hit the streets if you are able. It’s past due.

        Protect your neighbors. Warn and record in the presence of ICE. Push your local officials not to collaborate.

        Boycott businesses supporting these policies. Donate to your local food pantry, library, clinics, cash bail funds, or other mutual aid if you can. Or volunteer your time.

        Contact your local officials and congresspeople and ask them to protect election integrity. (See above templates).

        Make sure you’re up to date on your vaccines. Ditch the wearable tech.

        Consider running for local office or getting involved to support a local candidate through organizing or phone banking–especially progressive primary challengers.

        Think about ways to spread information offline. Make flyers and stickers. Make art.

    4. Week 22 Updates

      1. 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 minors were performed in the US over a 3-year-period.

      In addition to being in opposition to scientific consensus and harming the mental and physical well-being of trans kids, the ruling also takes away doctor-parent autonomy in choosing what is in the best medical interest of the minor, opening the door for government control over what kinds of medicine and care everyone can access.

      2. Described and Captioned Media Program Funding Cut. The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP), previously funded through DoED, was “the only free, national source of accessible educational videos for both deaf and blind, and deafblind students.” Videos with captions, ASL interpretation, and descriptive audio made a variety of educational material available for free for families and teachers.

      Due to DoEd’s funding cuts and the transition to block grant funding, states receiving money with no strings attached can to use it for accessible media…or not.

      The DCMP grant, issued through OSERS, was also a main source of income for the National Association for the Deaf (NAD).

      3. Department of Education Employees in Limbo Awaiting SCOTUS. Thousands of DoED employees await a ruling from SCOTUS’s emergency “shadow docket” process about whether their illegal firings will be overturned.

      Possible outcomes:
      SCOTUS could decide not to take the case; employees return to work.
      SCOTUS takes the case but goes on vacation 1 July, leaving things undecided until at least September.
      SCOTUS issues an official decision in either direction.
      SCOTUS consolidates the DoED case with cases of other federal agencies (unlikely, as DoED case also addresses the legality of Trump’s Executive Order about the department).

      Meanwhile, the administration seeks to continue its backdoor dismantling of federal agencies through OMB without Congressional “interference.”

      4. Department of Energy Opens 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 more.

      The change seeks to allow various entities to decide whether or not they want to include accessibility and accommodations for disabled people in their updates based on whether they are “efficient.”

      Public comment on this change recently closed, but you can still contact your representatives to voice your concerns about DoE and other attempts to attack 504 and ADA protections.

      5.  Trump’s EPA Considers Bringing Back Asbestos: The Biden Administration had previously banned the final type of asbestos used in the US. The current EPA has now taken that policy “under review.”

      Asbestos is a carcinogen that killed millions of Americans due to a rare and aggressive cancer called mesothelioma, though it has been linked to other cancers of the abdomen, ovaries, and larynx.

      The EPA under Trump has also sought to roll back other protections, like limits on coal emissions and toxic “forever chemicals” in drinking water, even as other parts of the administration tout a goal to make the nation “healthy again.

      6. Hickson vs St. David’s Healthcare Partnership Threatens ADA/504 in Healthcare Settings. Michael Hickson, a 46-year-old disabled Black man died in Texas in June 2020 after contracting Covid and being denied ventilator care and other ICU services. At the time, Texas and 24 other states had policies about rationing care that explicitly discriminated against disabled people. This is one of the things Final Rule updates seek to rectify.

      The case is currently before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, a conservative court. If they rule in favor of the hospital, it would set a precedent that guts disabled people’s ability to file medical facility-related discrimination claims under the ADA or Section 504.

      7. Good News: Federal Judge Rules Some NIH Grant Terminations “Void and Illegal.” On Monday, a Federal Judge ruled in a pair of cases that the administration’s termination of NIH grants was both discriminatory and had “no force or effect.”

      Most of the grants covered in the suits were terminated due to mention of LGBTQ+ populations, either directly or indirectly.

      While the ruling only reinstates grants specifically named in the suits, it opens the door for more organizations to seek reinstatement of funding through the courts.

      Keep pressure on your electeds to let them know you are watching, that the administration complies with the court’s rulings.

      Action Items
      Share this info! Disability is often lost in mainstream coverage.

      Call your Senator and tell them to vote NO on this dangerous budget. Choose 1 or 2 programs important to you–Medicaid, gender-affirming care, SNAP, IDEA, etc.–and mention them by name.

      Join Operation Mail Storm by writing and sending paper letters to representatives and the White House. Each is required to be opened and logged.

      If your state is involved, ask your Attorney General to withdraw from Texas v. Kennedy. If able, donate to organizations like DREDF, ACLU, who are fighting various legal challenges, and ADAPT who routinely put their bodies on the line in activist work.

      Consider how to move toward creative acts of mutual aid, and protest, including offline materials. Make flyers! Call out misinformation. Warn your neighbors (and record) in the presence of ICE. If able march, boycott, donate and/or volunteer with your local food pantry or library.