News Items August 8, 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.
Some Disability Advocacy Groups Quietly Shifted Diversity Language After Trump Took Office by Daniel Mollenkamp on July 30, 2026 at The Emancipator
"Many of the Trump administration’s recent cuts target or disproportionately impact people with disabilities. For example, a large share of the federal workforce, 23% based on 2024 data, identifies as persons with a disability, according to the Center for American Progress, meaning that they may have been heavily impacted by federal staffing cuts. The U.S. Department of Labor has also proposed a rollback of hiring rules that protect people with disabilities from ableist practices."
Juliana Leon Died in a Climate-Linked Heat Wave. Her Daughter Is Suing Big Oil. by Sonali Kolhatkar on August 6, 2026 at TruthOut
"Leon’s civil suit is significant, not just because a Washington judge unexpectedly cleared the case for discovery and trial, but because Leon can directly link her mother’s death to climate change. Scientists concluded that the 2021 heat dome was, in the words of one research paper, “virtually impossible without human-caused climate change.” It’s about a crime that already occurred instead of hypothetical harm."
She Followed ICE’s Advice to Self-Deport. Five Weeks Later, She Was Dead. by Sophie Hurwitz at Mother Jones
"To Alicia Hernandez, an organizer with the legal aid group MICA Project, the story was familiar: a husband taken in a traffic stop and sent away and a wife forced to leave the United States to reunite with him. Their deaths are part of a broader story of revenue-seeking policing in a region that once withstood intense federal scrutiny and has now become part of the Trump administration’s deportation machine."
The Contradiction at the Heart of Disability in America by Steve Way on July 27 at Time
"The ADA said disabled people have a right to live in America. The new law cuts the exact funding that helps many of us live, including the home-based services that keep disabled people like myself out of nursing facilities and in their own homes, which is the precise independence the ADA was written to protect. "
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