News Items - October 10, 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.
We Must Move Beyond the Era of State-Sponsored, State-Celebrated Murder by Maya Schenwar on October 9, 2026 at Truthout
"This pro-death penalty fervor is part of a current of unabashed glorification of state violence that courses through the Trump era, from the president’s genocidal threat to Iran via social media (“a whole civilization will die tonight”), to his boasting about the “stunning” and “spectacular” operation that captured Nicolas Maduro and murdered dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban people, to his ongoing funneling of weapons to Israel’s genocide while describing Gaza as a “demolition site” to be transformed into real estate, to his administration’s insistence amid rampant ICE violence that raids “haven’t gone far enough.” "
A New Disability Memo Has Lessons For Employers, Funders And Policymakers by Keely Cat-Wells on October 1, 2026 at Forbs
"That document is the Disability Community + Movement North Star Memo, convened by Disability Culture Lab and released this fall, and its central argument is one that progressives, funders and employers would be wise to sit with. Disabled people have spent generations navigating, resisting and redesigning systems that were never built for them, and that experience is precisely the expertise this moment of overlapping crises demands."
Race, Rights and Power: What’s at Stake in the 2026 Midterm Elections by Chandelis Duster, Daniel Mollenkamp and Halimah Abdullah on October 7, 2026 at The Emancipator
"From rising Black unemployment and redistricting battles that could politically disempower lawmakers and voters of color to stepped-up ICE deportations and concerns that potential federal presence near polling stations could have a chilling impact on turnout – the 2026 midterms are a gauge of how far the needle has shifted on the balance of political rights and power."
Anti-trans ballot measures are a political test run for the 2028 presidential election by Shelby Chestnut, Sarah Kate Ellis, Kevin Jennings, Andy Marra and Kelley Robinson on October 05, 2026 at the Advocate
"In our nation’s 250th year, American democracy is at a crossroads. We cannot let candidates subvert the democratic process against LGBTQ Americans again. We need voters to make their choices with eyes and hearts open, up and down the ballot. It’s time to be united and make our country a place where every LGBTQ person and family is welcome, safe, and free. When they come for one of us, they come for all of us."
Newsletters I follow:
Organizations