Voices
It’s time for accessible cabs in our nation’s capital
As a wheelchair user living in Washington, DC, I have found accessible taxi service highly unreliable for decades. I have filed too many complaints to count. I participated in mediation after charging a taxi company with discrimination, resulting only in empty promises for improving service with no actual actions to do so. I joined the…
Read MoreCaring for the Caregiver?
All along I have been writing about the missing disabled perspective from the media narrative. How the society (and media) overlooks issues surrounding disability, challenges faced by the community, resulting in their absence from the mainstream scheme of things. But there is something that finds even less of a mention in discourses around disability and…
Read MoreCalifornia Care Court Bill
The California Legislature is considering creating a “CARE Court” to fast track determinations of mental competency to mandate treatment. The Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court Program is being proposed to both the California Assembly (AB2830) and State Senate (SB1338). This bill is being strongly opposed by many disability rights organizations with letters from…
Read MoreAutistic Awakening
“I’ve started to wonder if I’m autistic,” I told my husband. By “started to wonder,” I meant that I’d been doing extensive research for weeks. I’d taken multiple adult autism self-assessments and read first-person accounts of women diagnosed with autism later in life. I really meant that I’d already figured some things out. But as…
Read MoreAutism “Special Interests”
I open this essay for autism acceptance month with this moment as it, and the exhaustion from the weekend, contains a lot of information on what it is like to be autistic. It is easier to convey the experience of being autistic through everyday life rather than a filtered presentation as it affects your life…
Read MoreWhat is Autism?
So, you want to learn more about autism? Here are a few things you need to know. I am autistic. The world of autism is quite diverse, so my experience is just that, mine. And I am writing this for non-autistic people or, using the language of the autism community “neurotypicals” (NT) – my family,…
Read MoreHow to get a Service Dog
If you’re a person living with a disability, you may have considered getting a service dog to assist you in some way. Service dogs are no longer only for the blind, after all. They can be trained to assist people who are hearing impaired or have mobility issues; to recognize low blood sugar in diabetics;…
Read MoreDisability and the Invasion of the Ukraine
In the desperate circumstances that Ukranians find themselves in, disabled people are hiding in their bathtubs because they cannot get to the shelters. Institutions of disabled people are being bombed and families are struggling to survive and unable to leave. In the words of one leader in the Ukrainian disability movement, we’re “easier to kill”.…
Read MoreEnding the Evusheld “Hunger Games”
Secretary Beccara – As 1 of the 7 million immunocompromised people living in the U.S., I am appalled at the hoops I am having to jump through to try to get my Evusheld injections. Having been in my home now for almost 2 years, without going to the grocery store, seeing my friends in person,…
Read MoreOn Life With Chronic Illness, Long Covid and Disabilities
So you have a new chronic illness, Long Covid, or disability and now your world has changed. I’m so sorry you’re facing this situation. You’ve probably not had time to adjust yet and you had no way of knowing that you’d be going through this. Contributed by Asher Wolf, originally published as Beyond The Bullshit…
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