When Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) was running roughshod over the Social Security Administration (SSA) last year, experts warned it could spell disaster for disabled, ill, and aging Americans who depend on its programs. A March 2026 report by the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) offers…
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Since Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office last year, the number of people in immigration detention has almost doubled from 40,000 to about 75,000. Disabled people face an increased threat of violence and detention from law enforcement, including the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents who have been deployed to terrorize communities and…
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Sixty-five-year-old Kristy Madden works to coordinate government-funded assistance for disabled people and others in need of in-home care. But while she loves her job, she worries that, if the Trump administration has its way, access to this essential aid may be eliminated. “I have muscular dystrophy (MD) and live with my younger sister who also has MD,” Madden says.
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Kathy Quitno-Bolt was still numb when she started calling Social Security days after her husband’s sudden death in July. Steve, her partner of 25 years and husband of 13, died four days after being diagnosed with lung cancer — just enough time for their daughter to arrive and say goodbye. When she finally got through to someone, they told her they wouldn’t have an appointment to begin her…
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The latest chapter in what one historian called “the ongoing horror story of American immigration enforcement” unfolded in Buffalo, New York this week after Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a 56-year-old Rohingya refugee from Myanmar, was released from a county jail where he’d been held for a year. As Buffalo-based outlet the Investigative Post reported Wednesday, the nearly blind man was found dead on…
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The Gaza Strip is facing an ever-deepening crisis in medical care and rehabilitation. In September 2024, the World Health Organization estimated that nearly a quarter of the injured — more than 22,000 people — had sustained wounds that resulted in the loss of limbs or permanent disabilities. By September 2025, that number had almost doubled: More than 41,800 people in Gaza now require long…
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