Disability News Roundup May 10, 2025
Recent articles about disability:
A research agenda to improve the lives of autistic people by Amy Roeder, published April 30, 2025 in Harvard T.H. Chen School of Public Health.
"Ari Ne’eman, assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a longtime national expert on autism and disability policy, recently spoke about the report and the secretary’s plans, and his own priorities for a research agenda that would better meet the needs of autistic people."
Maga’s era of ‘soft eugenics’: let the weak get sick, help the clever breed by Derek Beres published May 4, 2025 in the Guardian
"At the heart of all Trump administration policies is "soft eugenics" thinking – the idea that if you take away life-saving services, then only the strong will survive"
Death is the policy: Under RFK Jr., ‘Make America Healthy Again’ means junk science like ‘survival of the fittest.’ by Lauren Leffer, published May 6, 2025 in The Verge
"The root system of his disinformation campaign is multibranching. In one of his own published books, Kennedy indicates that he does not believe in germ theory, instead subscribing to a version of the abandoned 19th century concept that the “miasma” is the source of disease. He has historically profited from his “vaccine skepticism.” And then, there’s something else: the taproot that reaches deepest into the American psyche and is echoed across the Trump administration’s policies."
RFK Jr.’s ignorance about autism is bad. Republicans’ Medicaid cuts are worse: Proposed reductions will have terrible consequences for autistic people and their families by By David M. Perry, published May 4, 2025 at MSNBC.
"I need families like mine — my 18-year-old son is autistic — and those who care about us to become aware of the threats against Medicaid. I need awareness of the consequences that proposed GOP cuts would exact on families like mine, and what we can do to stop or mitigate the coming disaster."
What RFK Jr. Doesn’t Understand About Disability: The HHS secretary’s ignorance of the political history of disability shows he is the last person who should have a role in shaping its future." by Ivan Plis, published May 5, 2025 at The Bulwark
"ONE WAY OF THINKING ABOUT DISABILITY involves defining it as any condition where something is “wrong” with a person’s body or mind: They can’t walk, or hear, or see, or they are worse than expected at learning information or focusing on a task. Another way of thinking about disability is that it is what happens when a body or mind doesn’t fit into the world’s physical constraints or social rules: A person disabled by a world of staircases could have an independent, dignified life if ramps and elevators weren’t an afterthought."