Journalist – Historian – Speaker
Yesterday I wrote on the Endrew F. v Douglas County decision from the Supreme Court. It’s powerful and could make a real difference in special education in this country. In the meantime, though, even as the decision was being handed down, ADAPT (a direct action disability rights group) was occupying the Capitol Rotunda, chanting, and …
“Katherine Lavoie spent the last moments of her life with her husband pointing a gun at her. Olivia Clarence was four years old, and the last thing that will ever happen to her was her mother cutting off her air. Olivia’s brothers, Ben and Max, ended their lives the same way. They were three years …
Sesame Street moved Julia, a muppet whose character is autistic, from online only to the TV screen, and the story consumed a lot of my Twitter space. People are all happy she exists. People were happy when they announced her. I’ve seen lots of optimism, including from many, many, autistic people. But that doesn’t mean there …
Adam Cohen is the author of Imbeciles, an recent, widely read, book on the history of eugenics in early 20th century America. It’s a solid book that about a history that isn’t well known, and I’m glad he wrote it (though I am not sanguine about the movie deal based on it, but that’s not …
I’ve been playing various types of folk music most of my adult life, but found the most steady work playing Irish pub music. “Pub” music is an act that requires mastery of a wide range of standards, played up tempo and often with maximum camp, but which also allowed for individual style and expression. We …
Two stories this week on the Ruderman Family Foundation report on the media coverage of filicide of disabled people. The report, for which I was the lead author, found: Approximately once a week, a person with a disability is murdered by a family member or caregiver. We have found that when these murders are covered, …
I have a BA in History. People who don’t know the field or its applications will claim it = minimum wage. Actually it always meant I made $$ — Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) March 10, 2017 Because (and this is a fun fact) every industry needs people who can write well. They need people who can …
In Ottawa, a teacher decided to cut an autistic boy’s hair without permission. For weeks, the teacher had been calling the parents of the boy, saying his hair was too long and he chewed on it. From the CBC: The special needs teacher complained that Dominic, who has autism, was chewing on his hair and …
One day last February, I embedded with an ADAPT protest – a decentralized nationwide direct action disability rights group – in Kenosha and Racine Wisconsin. PLEASE READ THE ARTICLE. Here are some images. An African-American man in a wheelchair. Blue ADAPT sweatshirt: Our homes, not nursing homes. LOGO: Figure in a wheelchair breaking chains. https://t.co/11pNOgttEZ …
Super useful fact sheet on Medicaid Per Capita Caps. It’s one of the many threats in the Worlds Greatest Healthcare Bill of 2017 (no really that’s the official name). My article on how the Disability Community is fighting back. Here’s an image, but click the link above for an accessible pdf.