Media Baffled by Wheelchair ‘Miracles’ Because They Don’t Understand Disability
The Wall Street Journal noted that many people who use wheelchairs to board planes are “miraculously” able to walk once exiting the plane.
Ari Paul on Genocide in Gaza, Scout Katovich on Criminalizing Poverty
Corporate media are now gesturing toward engaging questions of Israeli war crimes against Palestinians. But what does that amount to at this late date?
How NYT Magazine Threw Away Journalistic Ethics on Suicide
The New York Times violated almost all of the published guidelines by personalizing, detailing, dramatizing, justifying and sentimentalizing a suicide.
‘Anti-Disability Rhetoric and Policy Lies at the Heart of the Second Trump Administration’:
CounterSpin interview with David Perry on MAGA and disability
“When you start to dig into the most harmful things the Trump administration is doing, I find disability there, again and again and again.”
David Perry on MAGA & Disability, Kehsi Iman Wilson (2023) on ADA
Policy impacts on people with disabilities are overwhelmingly an afterthought for corporate media, though it’s a community anyone can join at any moment.
Derek Seidman on Insurance and Climate (2024); Ariel Adelman on Disability Civil Rights (2024)
Many are calling out insurance companies that take folks’ money, but then hinder their ability to come out from under when these predictable and predicted crises occur.
When Does Concern About Presidential Fitness Become Media Ableism?
Ability and age shouldn’t be off the table as media topics during elections, but there are ways to have these conversations without promoting harm.
‘Disenfranchised, Under-Resourced Populations Are Burdened With Enforcing Major Federal Regulation’
“How would we go about suing every single time we have our rights violated, when that happens every single day?”
Ariel Adelman on Disability Civil Rights
Acheson v. Laufer is another example of “weaponizing the courts to dismantle labor protections, housing rights and health guidelines.”
‘We Have to Do the Hard Work of Looking at Context’
Transcript of The Best of CounterSpin 2023
The best of CounterSpin for 2023 is only a sample of the valuable conversations it’s been our pleasure to host this year.
‘Disabled People Are Whole People; We Need to See Media Address That Reality’
“If you’re talking about social justice issues, progressive issues, political issues, you need to be centering disability justice.”
Kehsi Iman Wilson on Americans with Disabilities Act
The ADA demands all kinds of attention, every day—not a once a year pat on the back about “how far we’ve come.”
‘The Whole System Is Stacked Against a Person With a Disability’
“Undoing that entangled web of policies that really focus on keeping people with disabilities in poverty is extraordinarily difficult.”
Kim Knackstedt on Disability Policy, Algernon Austin on Unemployment & Race
Media interest in historic breakthroughs should extend to the barriers disabled people face in 2023, and how policies could address them.
‘Every Issue Is a Disability Issue’
“Disability has been viewed as some kind of an afterthought to larger conversation…around public policy in this country.”
Richard Wiles on Fossil Fuel Lies, Rebecca Vallas on Disability Economics
The predictable harms of fossil fuels are forever “raising questions” for elite media. What would happen if they were seen as answering them?
Framing Disability as Disqualification in Fetterman/Oz Debate
For the election press corps, ableism is not so easily overcome, and style is always likely to trump substance.
It’s Not ‘Encouraging’ That Mostly People With Disabilities Die Despite Covid Shots
A statement that, within any subgroup, fatalities affecting primarily those with preexisting health issues are “good news” is disturbing.
Media Elevate Eugenicists, Sideline Disabled Voices in Discussions of Covid Rationing
Corporate media have elevated some experts without disclosing their troubling views on disability, aging and the value of human life.
‘Say No to Stealing Our Social Security Benefits’
“The more we can drag it into the sunlight, the more we can force them to defend the fact that they’re proposing stealing our benefits, the less they’re going to want to do it.”
