The Trump administration is quietly rolling back hard-won protections. Here’s an excerpt from my latest essay at The Dispatch:
As the mother of a 20-year-old with Down syndrome, I subscribe to a number of email lists and newsletters that keep me informed about disability-related issues. For the past 18 months, all those sources have issued warning after warning about policies and pronouncements from the Trump administration that chip away at the protections and provisions offered by our government to individuals with disabilities and their families.
For many of us, it feels both confusing and overwhelming. Will benefits related to housing, medical care, and employment be cut? Is special education in jeopardy? Are parents like me overreacting? Or are hard-won rights eroding before our eyes?
…College programs for people with intellectual disabilities hardly existed when Penny was born; now she could apply to dozens. State-run institutions that were once rife with abuse and neglect have shut down. Kids with disabilities are educated alongside their typical peers. We are developing new models for supported employment and inter-ability communities.
Our life as a family—and the lives of countless others across the United States—offers a testimony to what happens when we believe in the value of every human being and the power of local communities and social systems to support human possibility, within the security of a federal government that guarantees disability protections. But we are starting to question whether that security will continue to exist…
The language around intelligence and ability from government officials has suggested disdain toward disabled Americans.
Read the rest over at The Dispatch.
SUBSCRIBE to my Substack newsletter: amyjuliabecker.substack.com
JOIN the conversation on Instagram: @amyjuliabecker
LISTEN to my podcasts: amyjuliabecker.com/shows/
CONNECT on YouTube: Amy Julia Becker on YouTube
Amy Julia Becker desires to challenge assumptions about the good life, proclaim the inherent belovedness of every human being, and help us envision and build a world of belonging where everyone matters. Amy Julia invites people to reimagine the good life through her writing and speaking on disability, faith, and culture. She is the author of several books, including To Be Made Well, White Picket Fences, Small Talk, and A Good and Perfect Gift. She is a guest opinion writer for national publications and hosts two podcasts: Take the Next Step and Reimagining the Good Life. Becker is a graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv). She is a member of the Disability Ministry Network and the Alliance for Disability Justice and Ethics in Reproductive Genetics. She lives with her husband and their three children in western Connecticut.
