I've been meaning to write about the state of #accessibility support in #tech for a while now but figured it was a good time to do it now since The Register published this article.

As a #parent of a child with #disabilities, as well as being a #disability #advocate and #technology professional, I appreciate The Register's coverage of Global Accessibility Awareness Day and Apple's pursuit in improving accessibility in their OSes. Accessibility support is simultaneously necessary and perpetually a challenge. Often it seems like a clumsy afterthought or just prohibitively expensive.

As much as I am an #opensource advocate, the reality is out of all the mainstream OSes, #Microsoft #Windows has, unquestionably, the best support. #Apple has some catching up to do. The open source world trails behind with projects in various states of quality.

One of the areas needing serious improvement is eye gaze technology. Users who have serious motor impairments (spinal cord injury, stroke, cerebral palsy, ALS) rely on this technology to communicate. Windows 10 supports this functionality natively yet #Linux still treats it as a #DIY project, at best. There is little coordination between desktop environments like #KDE #GNOME and #XFCE nor is there any kind of unified API.

It's 2025, we have reached the first quarter of the 21st century and accessibility support is still an afterthought. We can and must do better.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/18/apple_accessibility_features_2025/

The Canadian government introduced a $200/month cost-of-living top-up for Canadians with disabilities on a low income. The Alberta government decides they are going to take it for themselves, forcing every AISH recipient to file for it (at their own expense for the medical exam), then clawing back their AISH benefits if they qualify so the Alberta government "saves" the money given by the Federal government instead of disabled Albertans receiving the benefit intended for them.

This is absolute rock-bottom grifting by Danielle Smith, stealing Federal funds from the most vulnerable Albertans who are struggling to live off of a FRACTION of a living income.

https://www.blindcanadians.ca/post/national-disability-network-responds-to-alberta-s-cdb-clawback-for-aish-recipients

Trump's big budget cuts will devastate a lot of people while giving Musk $1 billion for his Mars pet project. Unless you are a multi-millionaire, you will feel them or the effects of them and your safety will be at risk. This is not hyperbole. The cuts are listed below in the PDF

Big cuts to #NOAA, heating and housing programs, #Medicare (they say won't affect beneficiaries BS), #CISA, #FEMA, #FAA radar upgrades, Tenant-Based Rental Assistance, Public Housing, Project-Based Rental Assistance, Housing for the #Elderly, and #Housing for Persons with #Disabilities (27 billion dollars just in tenant-based rental)

We're not even talking about the stuff that affects middle class and above. They are in the list, too, and numerous.

The cuts are too catastrophic to list. The PDF below has all of them listed.

However, he gives $7 billion for lunar exploration (They want to commercially colonize the moon with data centers) and $1 billion in new investments for Elon Musk's
Human Space Exploration Mars-focused programs #USPol

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Fiscal-Year-2026-Discretionary-Budget-Request.pdf

Norway backs digital inclusion for people with disabilities in Vietnam https://www.byteseu.com/929448/ #Disabilities #MetteMoglestue #Norway

"Publishing #diamond #OpenAccess is a noblesse oblige for us. Let everyone benefit from research, so that we contribute together to appropriate care and improve the quality of life for people with #intellectual #disabilities."

Read the interview with Alain Dekker, editor of an open access book on #psychosocial #support #methods:

https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/blog/publishing-a-open-access-book-on-psychosocial-support-methods-for-people-with-intellectual-disabilit

The book, published in 2024, has been downloaded >10,000 times by now.

#research #care #psychology #SocialWork

by Silvio Zangarini

Agency for older adults and people with disabilities to be shuttered under #doge HHS cuts

The ACL was established in 2012 to bring together under one agency federal programs for older adults and people with disabilities that were previously administered by multiple organizations within HHS and in other agencies. Its

In fiscal 2022, the ACL provided more than 261 million meals to older adults, assistance such as respite care to more than 1.5 million family caregivers, and independent-living services to nearly 250,000 people with #disabilities #disabled #medicare #medicaid #USPol

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/agency-for-older-adults-and-people-with-disabilities-to-be-shuttered-under-hhs-cuts-d0ff3bc2

DOGE's press Release claims, "This reorganization will not impact Medicare and Medicaid services" but experts and beneficiaries are skeptical .

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/hhs-restructuring-doge.html

On brand…

#Trump’s Secy of State #MarcoRubio removes #LGBTQ+ people & #women from annual #HumanRights report

He also removed sections on people with #disabilities, & Government #Corruption.

#USpol #heterosexism #sexism #misogyny #racism #ableism #TheCrueltyIsThePoint
#WhiteCisHeteroChristianMaleSupremacy
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/03/marco-rubio-removes-lgbtq-people-women-from-annual-human-rights-report/

https://youtu.be/8rnmZ-Mf4CI

“Significant changes will be coming for Social Security recipients. Millions will no longer be able to verify their identity over the phone, creating a challenge for older #Americans and those with #disabilities. Advocates are raising concerns about the burden this could place on an already vulnerable population. Stephanie Sy discussed more with Kathleen Romig.”

#Labour
#disabilities
#ukpolitics
Is it just me or is the Labour government that I voted for sounding more and more like a Tory one ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89y30nel59o

“If we truly want to support students with #disabilities, we must strengthen, not abandon, our public schools instead of draining money from our public schools. Why not fix our system, fully fund our special ed schools, reduce those class sizes, hire and train more special ed teachers, and expand access to transition programs to prepare students for life after high school?”

https://www.texasobserver.org/house-hearing-2025-school-vouchers/

Accommodations designed for people with #disabilities often benefit everyone. Examples include captioning, visual instructions, and remote work options, according to a professor of disability studies: https://buff.ly/3CVmteh
Lauren Shallish, Rutgers - Newark #ADA #DEI #workplace #universaldesign

Elon Musk refers to people on benefits as "the parasite class", conveniently forgetting that as someone on the autism spectrum, he would probably be collecting disability checks if he hadn't been born rich.

“17 GOP state AGs are trying to scrap a 1973 law that protects people w/disabilities from discrimination & ensures equal access to education, healthcare, employment etc. The states say they're only targeting the addition of gender dysphoria—but they're not.”
-R Sollenberger

Many Republican political leaders are inhumane ableists.

#USPol #Disabilities #Ableism #Constitution #ADA #HHS

https://www.fastcompany.com/91281434/17-states-are-suing-to-end-disability-protections-support-section-504