Policy

We often hear about policies that impact the disability community in broad, sweeping terms. But the reality is that policies have real impacts on real people. Stay up-to-date on key policy issues that are important to the disability community

Outdoors, day. A prison watchtower separated by a wired fence. The camera is close up on the fence.

Mass Incarceration’s Dystopia Gets Even Worse: Harvesting Organs and Co-Opting Radical Language

Content warning: incarceration, enslavement, white supremacy, experimentation on adults and children, family separation, death from medical neglect, medical industrial complex, prison industrial complex, trauma, state violence In 1949, an incarcerated white man in Sing-Sing Correctional Facility named Louis Boy…

An older Asian woman with short dark hair waits in an office setting. She holds her head in her left hand, looking despondent. She's wearing a short-sleeved light blue top and dark shorts.

Substandard of Care: Accommodations in Healthcare

You can listen to an audio version of this essay here. As told to Editor-in-Chief Denarii Grace Rooted in Rights would like to acknowledge that this essay is the product of a collaborative effort between the storyteller…

Outdoors. A tree surrounded by green grass is seen from the tree top down to its complex roots. The roots are surrounded by soil because they're all underground.

Getting to The Roots: Why Does Subminimum Wage Persist?

In 2018, the National Council on Disabilities reported that people with disabilities in the U.S. have decreased chances of finding work. In addition, the report found that disabled workers often work for subminimum wage, low wages, and under substandard employment …

Artwork. A gold plaque has the following written on it in black text: "This institution has failed to provide disabled individuals with an accessible evacuation plan. In the case of an emergency, this is where my people will die. Please remember us. Please remember me."

In the Stairwell, We Will Die

During my sophomore year of college, I wrote my will. That year was filled with trauma. I’d noticed a constant ache in my lower back that soon trickled down my legs and into my feet. They started to look like …

Daytime, an aerial view of Islamabad, Pakistan. It's mostly green tree tops with buildings and roads. Large mountains in the background.

The Many Challenges of Working Disabled Women in Pakistan

In Pakistan, disability has been overlooked and ignored in all aspects of life, including administrative, financial, and legal spheres. As a result, people with disabilities are the most disadvantaged since we are unseen, unheard, and miscounted in the country. …

Two younger, dark-haired people with long hair - one brown-skinned, the other fairer skinned - in a living room. The fairer skinned person, wearing blue scrubs and a stethoscope around their neck, is standing beside the couch where the other person is seated. They're both smiling at the camera as the standing person passes a wooden tray with a white bowl of food and a glass of orange juice to the seated person.

A List of Demands: A Living Wage for Home Care Aids Supports Disabled People

I am angry—angry that Fair Pay for Home Care was not fully funded in New York’s budget in January 2022. And angry that the small pay increase that was approved won’t solve New York’s severe shortage of home care workers. …

A stack of envelopes with one on the top that says "past due" in bold red letters.

The Costs of Burdening People with Medical Bills for Involuntary Psychiatric Hospitalization

Years ago, when I was a third-year law student just a few credits away from graduating, I experienced a serious mental health crisis. My psychiatrist at the time involuntarily committed me to a private psychiatric facility in Oakland, California. Because…

Several ampoules with the COVID-19 vaccine.

As COVID-19 Vaccinations Continue, Disabled People are Once Again at the Back of the Line

My husband Leor and I have been in lockdown for a year now. Neither of us can risk getting COVID-19. I’m at high risk for being infected. I also could have serious complications or death from it due to underlying…

Ban Solitary

In our state’s prisons, people are being locked away in harsh conditions and deprived of human contact for months, sometimes years, in conditions the global community has deemed torture. SB 5413 aims to align Washington State with international standards and ban solitary confinement past 15 days.