Disability & Trans News - February 28 2026
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.
NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Who Has Tourette’s, Says ‘BAFTA Could Have Censored the Damn Thing’ by Missy Schwarts on February 24, 2026 at The Wrap
"New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the United States’ first elected official with Tourette syndrome, released a video on Monday night in which he expressed disappointment that BAFTA did not better support all parties involved in the N-word debacle: Michael B. Jordan, Delroy Lindo and John Davidson."
Project Eugenics: The Rollback of Disability Rights by Kiana Jackson and Shannon Stubblefield on February 9, 2026 at New Disabled South
"This report documents a deliberate assault on disabled people in the United States. Not an accident. Not a series of bureaucratic missteps. An assault that has been coordinated across agencies, policy domains, and governing priorities and has undoubtedly made disabled life more precarious, more surveilled, and more disposable."
‘I’m heartbroken’: Trans Kansans struggle with reality as driver’s licenses are invalidated by Sherman Smith and Morgan Chilson, Kansas Reflector · February 27, 2026 at The 19th
"Republicans in the Legislature placed transgender Kansans in their crosshairs at the start of this year’s session. The House Judiciary Committee scheduled a hearing with less than 24 hours notice on the second day of the session for a bill that would invalidate their driver’s licenses. The bill was a response to a Kansas Court of Appeals ruling last year that determined there was no harm in letting people change their gender markers, which Kansans have done since at least 2002 with no complaints."
Nurul Amin Shah Alam, Blind Rohingya Refugee Dumped by Border Patrol, Dies in Cold by Julia Métraux on February 25, 2026 at Mother Jones
"The story of Shah Alam’s arrest in February of last year, as reported by the Investigative Post, reads as a situation all too familiar for disabled people who interact with the police—particularly disabled people of color. His original violent arrest, by police who apparently saw his walking stick as a weapon—and who, like the Border Patrol officers who dumped him, apparently made no attempt to reckon with his disability, his inability to speak English, or his mental state—set off a chain of events that ended in his death."
Trump uses State of the Union to demonize transgender kids and their families by Christopher Wiggins on February 25, 2026 at The Advocate
"At a moment when Americans are still grappling with high health care costs, struggling with economic uncertainty over affordability, and a contentious debate over immigration enforcement, the president instead trained his fire on transgender youth, a population whose size and medical care, researchers say, are routinely misrepresented in political debate."
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