Disability News - December 13, 2025
Editor's Note: The disability community is increasingly preferring to use identity-first language (disabled person) in place of person-first language (person with a disability). This is because many in the community view disability as being a core component of identity, much like race and gender. Some members of the community, such as people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, still prefer person-first language. Both should be considered valid. Articles shared in this newsletter may contain one or the other (or both) depending on the author's preference, and if they themselves have a disability.
The Problem With Palantir’s New Neurodivergent Fellowship by Julia Métraux on December 8, 2025 at Mother Jones
"Neurodivergent people face barriers when it comes to employment in all industries, due to biases about disability and failure to give adequate accommodations. Disabled people can also very much participate in technofascism and also lateral ableism of other disabled people—as I previously reported, Elon Musk is a very strong example of this—and this fellowship will do nothing to break down barriers that neurodivergent people face."
Head Start centers told to avoid 'disability,' 'women' and more in funding requests by Cory Turner on December 11, 2025 at NPR
"Some Head Start early childhood programs are being told by the federal government to remove a list of nearly 200 words and phrases from their funding applications or they could be denied. That's according to recently submitted court documents."
A major civil rights change just happened InfoGraphics posted by The Center for Racial and Disability Justice as a thread on BlueSky on December 12, 2025
"The U.S. DOJ just rescinded key Title VI regulations without public notice/comment, removing disparate impact enforcement and making it harder to challenge policies that harm marginalized communities across federally funded programs"
South Carolina measles outbreak is 'accelerating,' driving hundreds into quarantine by Erika Edwards on December 10, 2025 at NBC News
"As of Wednesday, 111 measles cases had been reported in what’s known as upstate South Carolina — an area in the northwest of the state that includes Greenville and Spartanburg."
The R Slur Must Never be Normalized blog post by Kelly on December 9, 2025 at The Disabled Ginger
"Last week Trump called Governor Walz the ‘r slur’, a word that the disability community has been fighting against for decades. Then he doubled down on its use aboard Air Force One by telling a journalist he absolutely stands by it because there’s ‘something wrong’ with Walz."
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