Journalist – Historian – Speaker
Boulder has an endowed visiting conservative prof. I’m not so keen on billionaire ideologues funding prof lines who have to adhere to their ideology (do they test them, like religious colleges test your faith?) Anyway, it’s gone fine. I am happy to report that the lectures were well attended and that we had none of the …
For people with disabilities, state government matters. Illinois finally has a budget, but it’s not a state on which I can gamble my son’s adulthood. We’re moving. “More house?” My son emphasizes the aspirated “H” as he climbs into our blue minivan. I pause and turn to look at him.“What?”“More … house.” This time he …
There’s a video of President Trump heading off his plane to his limo, and just wandering off down the runway, until someone turns him around to head back to the car … which was right in front of him. What’s Going On Here? pic.twitter.com/xC8ORMrblz — Yashar Ali (@yashar) July 4, 2017 How do we report …
Conservative prof Jonathan Marks has written a great piece defending Lisa Durden. I wrote about Durden last week. A few excerpts from Marks: This month, Durden appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight. At issue was a Memorial Day event, co-sponsored by Black Lives Matter NYC, and promoted as “a space for black people.” One commenter, listed …
Colorado ADAPT staged a nearly 3-day sit-in in Senator Cory Gardner’s office before he had them. Here’s the statement from Carrie Ann Lucas on what it’s like to be arrested as a wheelchair user with a non-standard wheelchair and a trach. A small quote, but go read Lucas’ whole statement and follow them on Twitter @disabilitycubed. My …
The American right-wing has a cultural theory, or at least a cudgel: America is being destroyed by political correctness. College professors and liberal students, especially those of color, are to blame. It’s not a new theory, but in this age of multi-million (billion, for Fox?) dollar media companies and the magnifying effect of social media, …
New from AP today on the time Texas cut 350 million from Medicaid: Some Texas children with special needs like Addison have lost critical services since the state implemented $350 million in Medicaid cuts to speech, occupational and physical therapy in December. In Texas, reimbursement offered to providers fell up to 50 percent for certain …
I have a piece today at The Washington Post about the history of Republicans trying to gut Medicaid, why they failed, and why they might win this time. As detailed in a 2013 report by the National Council on Disability (a nonpartisan, federally funded advisory council) on Medicaid block grants and their effect on Americans with …
Zuma Juice made the worst piece of disability stereotyping commercial I’ve ever seen. The disability community let them know what was going on, and I wrote it up for Pacific Standard. This ad trades on two of the most pervasive stereotypes facing disabled folks. First, that their disability is attributable to poor lifestyle choices—i.e. drinking …
I was recently on a boat with a friend who said – I never read Twitter or Facebook any more, but I do check your blog for new stuff. So when I publish new pieces, I’m posting little excerpts here. Hi Melissa! 🙂 How do you find my stories? What’s the role of the blog …