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Welcome to the Weekly Reading Roundup! Stay informed with our latest selection of accessibility news highlights, curated for you!
LOCAL NEWS
Veterans whose monthly disability checks from the Department of Veterans Affairs disqualified them from receiving federal housing subsidies based on income restrictions will become eligible for the rental assistance under a rule change announced Thursday. Changes to the Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing program — jointly run by the VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development — will provide the rental vouchers to homeless veterans previously denied the subsidy because their monthly disability checks exceeded income limits, according to the VA.
OHIO CAPITAL JOURNAL: Senators urge better access to disability payments for Long COVID patients
People with symptoms of Long COVID attend a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing on Long COVID in January. A group of senators is now urging the Social Security Administration to grant greater access to disability payments for people with Long COVID symptoms.
Several U.S. senators have called on the Social Security Administration to take steps to make it easier for people with Long COVID to access disability benefits, actions that disability rights advocates and patients say are desperately needed.
USA NEWS
FORBES: 4 Disability Issues 2024 Candidates Should Address
Is it too soon or too late to ask what 2024 Presidential candidates' positions on disability issues will be? It’s hard to figure, given the suddenly compressed nature of the race, since President Biden dropped out and Vice President Harris is all but certain to run in his place.
But whether it's objectively early or late, the answer has got to be that now is the time to ask all candidates for U.S. office about their approaches to some of the most important issues facing Americans with disabilities in 2024. That applies not just to candidates in the high-profile, viral, upturned presidential race, but also candidates running for the U.S. House and Senate, state governorships and legislatures, and city, town, and village offices.
DISABILITY SCOOP: Overtime Mandate Has Disability Providers Considering Service Cuts, Advocates Say
Last year, ANCOR released a report estimating that the higher threshold for overtime pay would yield an extra $1 billion in expenses for disability service providers in the first year. In a survey of more than 700 providers from 45 states that was included in the report, a third said they would have to eliminate positions, almost half said they would limit overtime and 61% indicated that they would shift salaried employees to hourly.
While the initial increase that took effect in July concerned providers, advocates say they are especially wary of the next hike coming in January.
INSIDE HIGHER ED: Disability Ruling Against Calif. College is ‘Wake-Up Call’ for Others
A Colorado mother of a five-year-old girl with disabilities says she was questioned by Southwest Airlines on Sunday, while trying to pre-board her flight.“When I started school, they had the tram service, and that was the only way I could do it,” he told Inside Higher Ed. Nearly a decade later, he has one more class to finish to earn his associate degree. “I was a straight-A student, and when they took it away, my grades plunged and I suddenly had all of these problems.”
Now, after eight years of litigation, a federal judge has ruled that the college must provide Guerra and a second plaintiff, Karlton Bontrager, on-campus transportation services by the time the fall semester starts on Aug. 26. (The third plaintiff, known as Chrystal, who needed to carry an oxygen tank to manage various medical conditions, died prior to the ruling.)
GLOBAL NEWS
Wheelchair user Ndieme Lame commutes every day to the Stade de France where she works as a volunteer at the Paris Olympics. Her journey highlights the city’s efforts to improve accessibility for people with disabilities ahead of the Games. But challenges remain, and Lame wonders if the remaining gaps in infrastructure will be bridged.
AP NEWS: Paris Olympics embrace accessibility technology for visually impaired fans
As Paris shines under the global spotlight of the Olympic Games, technological innovations are enabling people with visual impairments to take it in.
Each Olympic venue is a mosaic of singular stories, from the athletes to the spectators. Even before the Paralympic Games begin later this month, Paris 2024 organizers strove to make the Olympics more accessible.
“For these Games, we wanted to carefully listen to the ecosystem of people with disabilities,” said Ludivine Munos, a former Paralympic swimming medalist responsible for integrating accessibility as part of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee.
CULTURE NEWS
NEW YORK POST: I’m a wheelchair pole dancer — I won’t let my disability confine me
Nina Alexandridou isn’t afraid of taking big swings in life.
And as a disabled pole dancer, the millennial often takes those swings around the pole with the support of her wheelchair.
“When I do pole dancing, I feel beautiful,” Alexandridou, 28, a PhD candidate from Athens, Greece, exclusively tells The Post.
Tampa-born Lady Fines Adaptive Fashion joins us, showing off the accessible apparel they offer. They design fashionable, functional & accessible clothing for people with disabilities.
They've also been invited to New York Fashion Week this fall!
