Disability Rights Watch (US)

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DRW Updates for February: the death of a blind refugee at the hands of CBP, Medicaid/care and medical supplier freezes, and that zombie Section 504 lawsuit. The latter two push an expected but disturbing trend toward forced indtitutionalization. www.disability-rights-watch.com/2026/02/27/f...

Important distinction because the captions are inconsistent in the video, the "pause" is on opening medical supply stores, not on purchasing medical supplies. The cutting off of funding to MN Medicare/aid, however, remains extremely fucked www.hhs.gov/press-room/t...

Nurul Amin Shah Alam, Blind Rohingya refugee dumped by CBP, dies in cold "They just left him."

ICE released a blind Rohingya refugee onto a random street corner five miles from his home with no help, no phone, and without contacting his family to even let them know he'd been released. Alam did not speak English. He died in the cold.
www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/20...

STOP THE SAVE ACT (Updated) All Eyes on the Senate

STOP THE SAVE ACT (Updated)
My new piece is up with lots of info about the SAVE America Act - the version of the SAVE Act that passed the House and is before the Senate this week. This is a MUST READ and then ACT.
open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...

Avoiding unintended consequences: science of reading policies may harm deaf children - PubMed Many U.S. policies inspired by the Science of Reading rest on two assumptions: (1) skilled reading always involves automatic mapping between written words and speech sounds, and (2) all children benefit from systematic instruction of phonological awareness and phonics. These assumptions are not whol …

Bloop! pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41712465/

Another Bad Thing™ about the SAVE Act is that it puts a lot of restrictions on voters who need assistance at the polls. That compounded with mail-in restrictions is going to disenfranchise so many disabled folks.

US forced deportation, language exclusion, and disability justice Deportation practices in the USA continue to undermine the communication and disability rights of asylum seekers with disabilities, especially deaf individuals, causing serious health consequences and...

Important read www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Updates on the intersection of ICE-related violence and disability, February 2026. www.disability-rights-watch.com/2026/02/03/i...

Texas and Eight Other States Renew Attack on Section 504 and the Right of Disabled People to Live in their Communities - National Health Law Program On January 23, 2026, Texas and eight other states – Alaska, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, and South Dakota – renewed their attack on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and...

OH FFS
healthlaw.org/news/texas-a...

ASL information re: observing and warning neighbors about ICE operations using S.A.L.U.T.E. / A.C.T.U.A.R. Please share widely--we know disabled folks are particularly susceptible to state violence and many d/hh folks regardless of immigration status have a first language that is not English.

Some updates on the treatment of disabled folks in ICE custody, including people being permanently disabled by agent abuse. www.disability-rights-watch.com/2026/01/16/i...

www.newsweek.com/dhs-responds...

A federal judge nominee said disabled people shouldn’t be wed. In fact, many can’t. Marriage often nullifies the government benefits they need to get by.

A federal judge nominee admitted today that he said during a sermon that disabled people shouldn't get married. As I wrote for @motherjones.com, in fact, many can't out of risk of losing their benefits. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

My latest, with @juliametraux.bsky.social, on the Trump admin's continued offensive against transgender Americans, their doctors, and the people who love them:

Congratulations to everyone who wrote an op-ed about how he just wants americans to eat better

White House: ASL interpreters ‘intrude on’ Trump’s ‘image’

Ffs.
www.politico.com/newsletters/...

Restoring America’s Promise

I honestly can't think of a single thing on this planet I'd rather do less than read Project 2026, but here we are: www.heritage.org/priorities

Still here, still terrible! www.disability-rights-watch.com/2025/12/08/w...

Freedom! (to die)

If you think Trump saying the r-word is bad, wait 'til you see what else he's been up to the past 44 weeks.

Dance band on the Titanic
www.disability-rights-watch.com/2025/11/22/w...

Proposal for degrees to remove from "professional" classification:
Education
Nursing (MSN, DNP)
Social work (MSW, DSW)
Public health (MPH, DrPH)
Physician assist.
Occupational therapy
Physical therapy
Audiology
Speech-language pathology
Business master's
Engineering master's
Counseling & therapy

This is a really interesting article about a horrifying distortion of sign language happening in the UK, and which its creators are now trying to export to other countries and their sign languages

Learn actual sign languages from Deaf people, not from hearing people making their own weird versions!

The above programs will be split up across Dept of Labor, Interior, and HHS, per DoEd press release.