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Welcome to the Reading Roundup! Stay informed with our latest selection of accessibility news highlights, curated for you!
LOCAL NEWS
BOOK RIOT: A Must-Read Book on Ways to Make the World More Accessible for All
Yu is the founder of Diversability, a community business that elevates disability pride, and her TED Talk, How to Help Employees with Disabilities Thrive, has over one million views. But I first came across her work on TikTok where she is the creator of the Anti-Ableism series. She speaks to viewers in such a warm and inviting way, I knew I had to check out her book—and now it’s finally here!
Yu has worked incredibly hard to make the text as accessible—in so many different ways—as possible. As a kid, Yu was in a car accident that paralyzed her right arm, and later she was diagnosed with PTSD. She uses her personal experience as a springboard, sharing anecdotes from her life to help illustrate her points. She organizes her book based on topics, each with easy-to-follow structures that take readers by the hand and lead them through her ideas. And, the chapters build on one another, helping readers understand her points.
DISABILITY SCOOP: On Capitol Hill, Key Disability Champions Set To Depart
Some of the most prominent voices in Congress for home and community-based services, Supplemental Security Income reform, competitive integrated employment and other disability issues are heading for the exits.
Multiple federal lawmakers who have prioritized issues important to this population will leave at the end of the year, some by choice and others who were voted out.
Notably, Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, both lost their bids for reelection last month.
When you're a kid, school seems inevitable, but for school-aged children with disabilities, that wasn't always a guarantee. For decades, many states legally refused to educate children with disabilities, often putting them in institutions where they rarely received education. Families rarely had other options or access to resources to provide for their children at home.
That changed in 1975 when Congress enacted the law known today as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. IDEA ensures that students ages 3 to 21 who have disabilities can have access to a free and appropriate public school education. The law covers a range of disabilities, the most common of which are learning disabilities and speech impairments.
Nationally, IDEA covers 7.5 million students, who make up 15.2% of the public school student population. The vast majority go to regular schools, with just 5% enrolled in specialized schools, private schools, or other types of programs, according to the Department of Education. Also, 2 in 3 students with disabilities spend 80% or more of their school day in general classes, a practice that would've been unthinkable pre-IDEA.
USA NEWS
NEW YORK TIMES: U.S. Moves to End a Minimum Wage Waiver for Disabled Workers
The Biden administration on Tuesday moved to end a program that has for decades allowed companies to pay workers with disabilities less than the minimum wage.
The statute, enacted as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, has let employers obtain certificates from the Labor Department that authorize them to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour. The department began a “comprehensive review” of the program last year, and on Tuesday it proposed a rule that would bar new certificates and phase out current ones over three years.
USA TODAY: Disabled travelers may need to do some extra prep before traveling this holiday season
Holiday travel usually means crowded airports, clogged roadways and exorbitant prices. For those with accessibility needs, it can be an even more complicated time of year to get around. Travelers with disabilities can take steps to ease the ordeal, but it’s probably best to anticipate complications.
Mark Raymond Jr., principal accessibility consultant at Universal Development Consulting, said travelers with disabilities should plan ahead and think about their needs in three different buckets: transportation, air travel and accommodation.
Here’s what he said should be kept in mind in each category to ensure the smoothest possible holiday trip. The overall theme is: plan ahead.
Whether your trip is entirely by ground or you need a last-mile pickup and drop-off to the airport, Raymond said it’s important to plan ahead.
“Always have your vehicular transportation plans done,” he said. “Whether it’s having a public transportation plan or making sure that city has accessible taxi cabs, but have it identified on the front end and scheduled.”
GLOBAL NEWS
SAG-AFTRA has produced three advocacy videos putting a spotlight on the challenges disabled actors face in pursuing and auditioning for jobs in the entertainment industry. The videos were produced as part of the union’s “Inclusion: Time to Get Real” campaign launched in connection with National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
The goal is to demonstrate how people with disabilities are underrepresented in TV and film, and when they are on screen, they are often misrepresented. In 2022, people with disabilities accounted for 8.8% of screen time, but those with visible disabilities made up only 0.4%, according to a Nielsen study.
FORBES: The DNA Of Disability-Inclusive Leadership
When the world's most powerful business leaders agree to have deeply personal conversations about disability inclusion, you listen carefully. This week, to mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), Valuable 500 published a groundbreaking whitepaper that captures the fears, motivations, and transformative insights of 33 such individuals.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: despite controlling $18 trillion in spending power, the disability community remains systematically excluded from business decisions. The reality is that the barriers holding businesses back are deeply human. Fear of stigma still silences leaders. Limited understanding breeds hesitation. Outdated attitudes persist in boardrooms. Most tellingly, the scarcity of disabled leaders in power perpetuates this cycle of exclusion.
But these conversations, spanning eight countries and 15 industries, mapped out the DNA of truly inclusive business. First is Purpose and Strategy, where personal conviction drives systemic transformation, embedding disability inclusion into core business values and operations. This is the foundation upon which all meaningful change is built.
CULTURE NEWS
USA TODAY: 'Wicked' breakout Marissa Bode on making Oz more accessible: 'Advocate for yourself'
When she was 8 years old, Marissa Bode made her acting debut as an orphan in “The Prince and the Pauper” at her local community theater in Mazomanie, Wisconsin.
“I had one line and I was so scared, like, ‘What if I forget it?’ “ Bode says. “But after that, I was like: ‘Oh, this is a piece of cake. I’ll be continuing to do this for quite a while.’ ”
Sixteen years later, she has made her way to a much bigger stage in “Wicked,” the big-screen version of the Broadway musical sensation. The radiant newcomer plays Nessarose, the “tragically beautiful” sister of the emerald-skinned Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), who becomes known in Oz as the Wicked Witch of the West.
Bode, 24, is the first wheelchair user in the musical’s 21-year history to be cast as Nessa, who also uses a wheelchair. It’s a profound milestone for the first-time film actress, who fell in love with “Wicked” as a teenager when she saw the national tour in Wisconsin.
DISABILITY SCOOP: Netflix Documentary Focuses On Nonverbal Teen With Autism
A short documentary is coming to Netflix that shares the story of a teenage girl with autism who’s finding her voice for the first time.
The 23-minute film “Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World” follows Makayla Cain, who has a rare form of autism and has spent her childhood largely unable to communicate.
However, at age 14, Makayla is introduced to letter board therapy, which unlocks her inner world.
The film, which won Best Documentary Short at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year, meets Makayla eight months after she started letter boarding as she’s learning to express her poetry and intelligence with those around her.
“Before she knew how to letter board, we had no idea what she was thinking,” Makayla’s mom Mañana Cain says in the documentary. “Having her communicate, it’s a beautiful thing, cause it’s like who is this child? And we’re still learning who she is.”
“Wicked” star Marissa Bode has spoken out against the negative comments and jokes about her character Nessarose’s disability, calling them “aggressive,” “very gross” and “harmful.”
In a five-minute video posted on TikTok on Friday, Bode - who uses a wheelchair on screen and in real life - shared her thoughts on the insensitive comments circulating online about Nessarose, the sister of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo).
"It is absolutely OK to not like a fictional character," Bode said. "I am going to be admitting my bias in the way that I have a lot of different feelings on Nessa than a lot of you do, and that's totally fine. I think Nessa is complex, but that's the beauty of art. ‘Wicked’ and these characters and the movie wouldn't be what it was if there weren't different opinions on the characters and who's truly wicked or not. And not liking Nessa herself is OK. Because she is fictional, that’s totally fine."
