Extremely excited to announce that I am now Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy at CommunicationFIRST! Communication access has been a big part of my work for a decade or more. I'm also thrilled to be working with some of my favorite people and to meet the rest of the CommunicationFIRST team.
Is it a little cringe to write about how the latest viral thing actually teaches valuable lessons about politics? Yes. Did I do it anyway? Absolutely yes, because this time it's totally true. And because I genuinely love KPop Demon Hunters, having had to watch it 10 times already.
The full ruling explaining why NIH grant cuts are illegal came out today.
It's just as blistering as the judge's oral remarks. And it uncovers fresh details in DOGE's role orchestrating the cuts — and on the cuts at Columbia.
Here are my top highlights from the 103-page ruling. 🧵
Lovely to see @samanticka.bsky.social get some attentio. She has done so much for the #ActuallyAutistic community and she's right: I know plenty of autistic lawyers, both who got diagnosed as kids and those who got diagnosed as adults after law school.
"There’s a stereotype that autistic people are generally drawn to STEM fields & that law is an anomalous profession for us to go into, but in my experience that is not true. I have known & worked with quite a few openly autistic lawyers." @samanticka.bsky.social:
www.americanbar.org/groups/diver...
Lovely & informative interview with
@samanticka.bsky.social
Sam Crane, who has over 15 years of experience in disability law & policy, including senior roles at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) & Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities…
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www.americanbar.org/groups/diver...
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers"
@samanticka.bsky.social's reminder that advocacy can be joyful really resonates with me.
"Combine a lot of angry advocates together, and the situation gets even worse. Conflicts can’t de-escalate. People can’t problem-solve and understand each other."
sammka.substack.com/p/why-should...
My latest newsletter post takes a bit of a broader view of our task right now: buttondown.com/sbagen/archi...
Our messaging should be along the lines of: "diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (sometimes called DEIA)"
Write out the words.
Include accessibility (the feds do, and those are the policies directly under attack.)
StopRFKjr.com is a simple link you can send to your friends, family, colleagues that makes it incredibly easy for them to call their U.S. Senators and tell them to oppose the disastrous nomination of RFK Jr to run all federal health programs.
Please share StopRFKjr.com as widely as you can
I know this is beside the point but I also wanted to point out that FCPS is one of the best school districts in the state. Those kids can read and the main areas that need to improve are their racial disparities - equity initiatives are there to *help kids learn*
Just sent emails to the superintendent and school principal, asking them to publicly push back on the "Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling" EO. Also found the board meeting schedule.
If anyone wants to join me, I'm linking a couple of templates below that helped me write mine.
in case any media wants to have a chat with a former Department of Transportation employee who can speak first-hand to what the disability accommodation practices look like in the Department, I'm here
they were not that great even under Buttegieg. the idea of hiring ATCs unfit to perform is lunacy.
I hope you’ll pardon me jumping in. You could also post the audio of ATC diverting 19 flights after the collision with cool, calm precision.
archive.liveatc.net/kdca/KDCA1-T...
Heroic
Also we need to hammer here that actually, air traffic controllers have tons of medical reqs. The only PWD getting hired for these jobs via schedule A are those whose disabilities are truly irrelevant to the job, like ppl with lower body mobility issues
bsky.app/profile/sama...
Also check out Direct Access to the Capital Act which likely contributed to unsustainable crowding. I doubt anything Trump did had time to make the difference here but that law was passed in early 2024 amid already significant crowding
Big mood
I'll add that if I had to bet, the big policy failure here is not DEIA (obviously) OR air traffic controller hiring freeze - but the airport being overcrowded because of this recent legislation.
Certainly unsurprising - but figured people might want to know what the actual truth is here.
RFK Jr. isn’t just pushing anti-vaccine rhetoric—he’s cashing in on it. Sen. Kaine revealed he receives contingency fees from Gardasil lawsuits. He has a financial stake in undermining vaccines. #StopRFK
If you want to know why so many people are worried about Gabbard's visit to Bashar al-Assad, read @richardhalljourno.bsky.social and @andrewfeinberg.com.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
We don't know the answers to ANY of those questions right now. This kind of accident should never have happened. We know that air traffic controllers should be adequately staffed, etc. But we can't learn from tragedies unless we *actually investigate them and see what went wrong*
Another comment on this kind of blame game because it's on the left too. We have no idea what actually happened. Was the air traffic controller ACTUALLY disabled? Was this airport's staffing level ACTUALLY affected at that time by a hiring freeze? Was this preventable by air traffic control at all?
Air traffic controllers can still be hired through Schedule A but only if their disabilities aren't medically disqualifying. People *with* psychiatric, neurological, intellectual disabilities do get hired *for other federal jobs that they can safely perform*.