American Association of People with Disabilities

02/03/2026

I Identify As Blind - A Brazen Celebration of Disability Culture, Identity, and Power is a new book by our incredibly talented friend, Grammy-nominated artist and producer, Lachi. Lachi's book tour is coming to the DMV area, where she will be in conversation with AAPD President and CEO Maria Town this Friday, February 6, at 7 PM at Politics and Prose. Come get your book signed, celebrate Lachi's achievement, and lift up our community and culture at Politics and Prose's Northwest DC location at 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW. Seating is first-come, first-served.

Can't join us? Join the livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/live/z_Wi4bwllig

Image Description: A pink and purple graphic containing the same image as the post with a photo of Lachi and a photo of her book cover.

02/03/2026

In their new blog, NBCUniversal Tony Coelho Scholarship recipient Melina List writes about the importance of paratransit. Because Melina relies on paratransit for their transportation, they have learned the importance of interdependence and reconsidered their relationship with the concept of time. Read their blog: https://ow.ly/MHFQ50Y8nII

ID: Headshot of a white person with long, brown, wavy hair. They are wearing a multi-colored floral shirt and have a bright orange marigold flower tucked behind their ear. Beneath that, a quote from them that says: "In my case, taking paratransit instead of driving feels like a rebellion against a culture which values people based on how much money they can make. We are constantly encouraged to be fast, agile, and productive, no matter the personal cost or limitations. So to slow down is to say my worth comes from being a human being, not from dollars."

02/02/2026

There is still time to apply to join our 2026 Fall Internship Program! Read below to learn more. Applications close on Thursday, February 5th, at 5:00 PM ET. Apply today https://ow.ly/P59c50Y7QrN

Are you a disabled student or recent graduate who is looking to gain professional experience, grow your leadership skills, and connect with disabled community? Then being an could be a perfect opportunity for you!

AAPD places interns at paid internships within nonprofit, government, and for-profit organizations. AAPD's Fall Internship Program is a fully virtual opportunity where interns work 15 hours a week at their placement sites, Monday – Thursday, and attend weekly AAPD programming on Fridays. AAPD interns are also matched with disabled mentors in their fields of interest.

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01/28/2026

CW: This post describes violent and harmful actions by federal immigration agents against disabled people.

One of AAPD’s core values is the fundamental belief that all disabled people deserve to be treated with dignity – meaning their civil, human, and constitutional rights must be fully honored and enforced. The extreme, violent tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) across the country pose a severe and unacceptable danger for disabled people, regardless of citizenship status.

The following stories are just a few examples of the profound harm ICE is inflicting on our community. There are many more. Each of these has been fact-checked by AAPD and corroborated by multiple nonpartisan media sources.

In Minnesota, an autistic U.S. citizen with a brain injury, Aliya Rahman, encountered an ICE roadblock while driving to a doctor’s appointment. She told them she was disabled and heading to the doctor, and ICE agents responded with immediate aggression: they broke her car window, cut her seatbelt, bound her arms, and physically carried her away. She was detained in federal custody until she lost consciousness and was later treated for injuries a doctor confirmed were consistent with assault.

In Texas, Wael Tarabishi, a disabled man with Pompe disease died after his primary caregiver and father, Maher, was taken into ICE custody last fall. Maher was not arrested for wrongdoing, but because his asylum was revoked when the attorney who represented him fraudulently practiced law without a license. Wael was hospitalized in the ICU after his father was detained. Ultimately Wael died. ICE would not let Maher say goodbye to his son or attend his funeral.

When a person’s disability makes it hard for them to hear, see, or understand ICE’s commands, ICE assumes that person is being noncompliant.

In New York City, ICE agents detained Carlos Chalco Chango, who is blind, after showing him an image of a target, and when he said he could not see it, immediately arrested him. While in detention, he was denied access to his cane and a text-to-audio app, a crucial assistive technology necessary for him to read legal documents.

In California, Javier Diaz Santana, a deaf, non-verbal DACA recipient, could not understand ICE’s commands. ICE took his phone away when he attempted to use it to communicate, and refused to remove his handcuffs so he could sign. Javier spent nearly a month in an immigration detention center in El Paso, and was denied access to an ASL interpreter.

This is unacceptable. Take action with the National Immigration Law Center and tell Congress to stop funding these horrific attacks on our communities: https://act.nilc.org/page/93101/action/1

AAPD has also collected resources from our partners and trusted sources of information. Please read them at https://www.aapd.com/aapd-resources-and-news-sources-amidst-ice-violence/.

ID: Various headlines of ICE violence against disabled people

01/24/2026

A big winter storm is coming for 2/3 of the United States this weekend, and many may lose power. If you rely on home medical devices, you might be worried or unsure what to do.

This article is a great resource and provides helpful information on preparing for the storm across a range of situations, from refrigerated medications to adjustable bed frames to life-sustaining breathing devices and LVADs.

If your home medical equipment is life-sustaining and losing power will mean a medical emergency for you, please get in touch with your local fire, police, and utility providers tonight to let them know about your situation. Your utility provider may be able to prioritize restoring your power, depending on the circumstances.

For most people, power outages are an inconvenience. For those who count on electricity for home medical equipment, they can be a crisis. Here's how to plan ahead for health care needs in a blackout.

01/23/2026

Today we celebrate Ed Roberts on what would have been his 87th birthday — a day we call Ed Roberts Day. Ed Roberts is considered one of the fathers of the disability rights movement. His area of focus was independent living, work that — like Ed Roberts’ impact — still lives on to this day.

Ed Roberts was admitted to Berkley in 1962, where he had trouble finding housing that would accommodate the 800-pound iron lung that he slept in at night. The director of the campus health service offered him a room in an empty wing of the Cowell Hospital. Roberts accepted on the condition that the area where he lived be treated as dormitory space, not a medical facility. His admission broke the ice for other students with disabilities who joined him over the next few years at what evolved into the Cowell Residence Program.

Ed Roberts would go on to have a huge influence on Berkeley creating the first Centers for Independent Livings (CIL), the first independent living service and advocacy program run by and for people with disabilities.

Now, CILs help disabled people across the country access independent living. In 1976 Roberts was appointed as the director of the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation by then-governor Jerry Brown.

Ed Roberts' influence and impact on the disability rights movement cannot be overstated.

ID: Black and white portrait of Ed Roberts, with the years 1939-1995 and text that says "remembering Ed Roberts".

01/22/2026

The bottom line is: the EEOC is rushing through a change that would harm people with disabilities and make it harder to enforce our civil rights in the workplace.

AAPD is urging the EEOC to not make this change. We also urge the EEOC to go through the proper legal channels so the public may be heard before they decide how to proceed with this regulation -- as is our right under the law.

When the Harassment Guidance came out, it provided much-needed updated guidelines for the first time in nearly 25 years. It makes clear that federal law protects all workers from harassment based on protected characteristics, including race, national origin, religion, s*x (including s*xual orientation, gender identity, and pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), disability, and age.

It also provides more than seventy examples of how the law applies to different factual scenarios, including harassment on the basis of disability, disability accommodation, disability of a person with whom the employee is associated, and genetic information.

The EEOC is a critical civil rights enforcement entity for disabled people. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, over 33,000 disability-related charges were filed with the Commission, representing about 38% of all EEOC charges, and approximately 43% of lawsuits filed by the EEOC involved Americans with Disabilities Act claims.

We hope the EEOC will change course and listen to the public before making this harmful change to enforcing our civil rights to work without experiencing harassment.

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01/21/2026

We’re thrilled to announce that the 2026 REV UP Movement Grant application is now open! These grants support projects that increase civic engagement in the disability community and improve election accessibility at the state and local levels in the United States. Projects must take place between April and December of 2026. This year, we are providing grants in amounts of up to $10,000.

Apply at: https://forms.gle/FsdgtLSarSbW33nGA

ID: Blue graphic promoting Movement Grants with a ballot box icon text that says "apply today" in all caps

01/20/2026

We are thrilled to announce the recipients of AAPD's 2026 Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leader Awards, an award given to emerging leaders with disabilities who exemplify leadership, advocacy, and dedication to the broader cross-disability community. Please join us in congratulating Katie Drackert and Brittanie Hernandez-Wilson.

Paul G. Hearne was a visionary leader who was a passionate advocate for disability employment and cultivating leaders to advance the disability rights movement. He was also an AAPD co-founder and our first Executive Director before his passing in 1998. AAPD has continued Paul's legacy through the award. Katie and Brittanie join an incredible group of more than 75 leaders who, over the past 25 years, have advanced the disability movement through their advocacy, education, skill-building, organizational infrastructure, and more.

Katie Drackert (she/her), otherwise known as “KD”, is a Disabled Sapphic focused on advocacy, organizing, public speaking, and creating art in Austin, Texas. KD founded Clear the Air ATX (CTA) in 2023, an organization dedicated to providing access to free high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) purifiers and community education to reduce the spread of airborne pathogens and impacts of post-viral illnesses. Katie will use the Hearne Award to support and sustain CTA's work, partnerships, and disabled Texans' access to joyful and educational events around clean air.

Brittanie Hernandez-Wilson (she/her) is a multiracial, disabled organizer whose work lives at the intersection of disability justice, care, and collective liberation. She will use the Hearne Award to build a new program called “Our Stories, Our Care”, a disability justice storytelling and care-rooted advocacy project to defend Medicaid and home care in California.

ID: Carousel post announcing the winners of the Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leader Award, with photos of the winners

01/13/2026

Our first REV UP National Call of 2026 is tomorrow! We're kicking off the year talking about trends, threats, and opportunities for voting rights. Join us tomorrow, January 14 from 1-3 PM ET. ASL and CART are provided.

Our guest speakers include Evan Preston from Voting Rights Lab and Secure Democracy USA, along with grassroots perspectives from Barbara Manuel from National Federation of the Blind of Alabama and Kathy Jones from League of Women Voters of Alabama Education Fund.

ID: Calendar-like graphic highlighting the REV UP national call on the 14th with a megaphone illustration and 'Coming soon' typed in a red, handwritten style font.

01/13/2026

Recent immigration actions harm disabled immigrants and people with disabilities. How? Summer Internship Program alum Rachel Litchman writes about how people like her rely on home- and community-based services (HCBS) and how immigration policy affects these services. According to Rachel and many experts, attacks on immigrants and the recent Medicaid cuts mean that HCBS faces a dire threat.

ID: Photo of Rachel smiling at the camera against a brick wall. There's text underneath that says: "For people like me who rely on caregivers to remain in the community, assaults on immigrants mean I move closer and closer to institutionalization each day. I am not naïve to the abuses that occur in institutional facilities. I fear what will happen to myself and other disabled people, citizens and immigrants alike, when we are forced out of sight, out of mind."

01/06/2026

HHS has officially reduced its recommended number of vaccines for children from 17 vaccines to 11. They did this in spite of decades of overwhelming evidence that vaccines are safe for children. HHS’ decision puts children in danger, especially children with disabilities or immunocompromising conditions.

Some of the removed vaccines are still available after consulting with a health care professional, which creates administrative, time, and financial burdens for parents who want their children to be vaccinated.

HHS’ decision is part of an ongoing pattern of the vaccine fearmongering and misinformation perpetrated by the federal government, led by HHS Secretary RFK Jr. Vaccines cause adults. Vaccines save lives. It's that simple!

ID: Retro-stylized text on a blue gradient background that says “vaccines cause adults” and “vaccines save lives”