The Trump administration is dismantling the systems that make economic security possible for women with disabilities. This series explores how these changes are unfolding and what it will take to rebuild them.
Social Security at 90: Three Truths and A Terrible Trumpy Lie About One of America’s Greatest Economic Programs
Social Security is the foundation of economic security for people in the United States, particularly women of color. Here are three facts you should know about Social Security at 90 – and one awful lie that the Trump administration and its billionaire cronies are desperate for you to believe.
The Trump Labor Department Commemorated Disability Pride Month by Turning Its Back On Workers With Disabilities
This Disability Pride Month, we mark the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. But rather than building on progress made for disabled workers, the Trump Labor Department is actively undermining the workplace protections and supports that millions of workers with disabilities rely on.
Medicaid Matters for My Sister-in-Law Mandy
My sister-in-law Mandy lives in a biased and ableist world that isn’t built for her, but Medicaid supports her full inclusion in society. Republicans proposed cuts could end that.
Workers with disabilities continue to benefit from expanded workplace flexibility, but are suffering from Trump’s attacks
Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released annual data about disabled people in the U.S. workforce showing a continued upward trend through 2024. However, inequities remain for disabled people, particularly disabled women and disabled people of color, and threats from the Trump administration could threaten this progress.
“Access to Good Jobs for All” Must Include Disabled Women
Every October, we recognize National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) to celebrate the value and talent disabled workers add to America’s workplaces and economy. This year’s theme, “Access to Good Jobs for All,” highlights the importance of ensuring good, quality jobs for everyone who can or wants to work – including disabled workers. That must include disabled women.
Extreme Heat Puts Women Workers in Danger
Communities across the nation are seeing longer and more frequent heat waves as well as higher average temperatures. But the risks of heat to people’s health and well-being don’t fall equally on all workers. It is essential, and increasingly urgent, that our policy approaches to heat recognize the elevated and distinct risks that women workers face.
Beyond Disability Pride Month: NPWF Staff Reflections on “Disability Visibility”
National Partnership staff share their reflections on Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century by Alice Wong following book club discussions led by the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism team.
Mask Bans are Dangerous for Disabled Women
Recently, lawmakers in several states and localities have been advocating for mask bans and have seen success in places like North Carolina and Nassau County, New York. But with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging on and conservative efforts to delegitimize the efficacy of masks, the renewed push to ban face masks, catapulted by fear-mongering and a legacy of eugenics, will harm and threaten the health and safety of disabled people, particularly disabled women and disabled women of color.
2024 Supreme Court Term Wrap-Up
The 2023-2024 U.S. Supreme Court term has been one of the most destructive in recent years: the Court put ideology before evidence and expertise, grabbed power from our elected officials in favor of extremist judges serving on lower courts, and showed that they care more about their personal preferences than Americans’ health, safety and more.
Beyond Access: How Can We Embody Disability Justice?
Disability justice frameworks work to eradicate persistent inequities for disabled people, particularly for those who are multiply-marginalized. Working towards tenets of disability justice moves us closer to liberation for all people.
What Disability Reproductive Equity Day Means to Me
Today, we observe the first ever Disability Reproductive Equity Day. Disability Economic Justice Counsel Marissa Ditkowsky, who identifies as a multiply-disabled woman, talks about her personal experiences and why this day is so important to her.
How a Young Lawyer’s Mental Health Journey Fuels Her Advocacy Work
To acknowledge Mental Health Awareness Month this May, DOL’s Office of Disability Employment Policy sat down with Marissa Ditkowsky, disability economic justice counsel at the nonprofit National Partnership for Women & Families and adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL).
HHS Must Finalize Updated 504 Regulations
In September 2023, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services proposed a rule updating disability discrimination regulations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 for the first time in almost 40 years.
Disabled employment is at a record high, but disparities remain
Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual data about disabled people in the U.S. workforce. The data reveal a continued upward trend in disabled employment. However, inequities remain for disabled people, particularly disabled women and disabled people of color.
New Census proposal would reduce the number of disabled women and girls counted by nearly 10 million
A new proposal from Census would change the definition of disability in the American Community Survey, reducing the official count of disabled people by 40 percent. This change could have significant implications for supports for disabled people.
Disabled women face unique barriers at work. Our systems transformation guide seeks to address them.
To the extent a disabled woman can work and chooses to work, barriers to employment and work are some of the many deliberate policy choices that prevent disabled women from achieving economic security.
Unadmitted and Undiagnosed: Race-Conscious Admissions Matter for Rare Disease Diagnosis
The recent upheaval of affirmative action in higher education will harm patients of color. This harm could be particularly pronounced for patients of color with rare diseases, who are systematically undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, and left to fend for themselves in an overwhelmingly white medical system.
Disabled Workers Can Be Paid Less Than $7.25 an Hour. It’s Time to Change That.
In 37 states, employers can legally pay workers with disabilities less than the minimum wage – a subminimum wage. If passed, the Raise the Wage Act of 2023 would eliminate the subminimum wage for disabled workers by 2028.
Disabled People Face Renewed Threats to Autonomy After Dobbs Decision
Discussions about abortion access and the impact of Dobbs on disabled people are often overlooked. Let’s examine the ways that reproductive freedom and access to abortion care are critical to the economic security, health, well-being, dignity, and autonomy of disabled people and their families, particularly disabled women of color.
