Center for Racial and Disability Justice

We were proud to have Dr. Kate Caldwell represent CRDJ at this year’s United Nations High-Level Political Forum Collaborative on Citizen Data event. Her presentation emphasized the importance of using intersectional methods to ensure that disability data reflects the full complexity of people’s lives. This work is central to our mission at CRDJ: advancing disability data justice, centering marginalized voices, and challenging the structures that too often erase disabled people of color from research and policy. We look forward to continuing to build a field where both quantitative and qualitative approaches honor the lived realities of disabled communities.

We were proud to have Dr. Kate Caldwell represent CRDJ at this year’s United Nations High-Level Political Forum Collaborative on Citizen Data event. Her presentation emphasized the importance of using intersectional methods to ensure that disability data reflects the full complexity of people’s lives. This work is central to our mission at CRDJ: advancing disability data justice, centering marginalized voices, and challenging the structures that too often erase disabled people of color from research and policy. We look forward to continuing to build a field where both quantitative and qualitative approaches honor the lived realities of disabled communities.

It’s up to the discretion of RFK Jr to define what ”medically frail” is when it comes to potential Medicaid work requirement exemptions—which may play a huge role in deciding which chronically ill and disabled people could qualify. My latest for Mother Jones. https://lnkd.in/gvgpSGJE

Sharing a blog piece of mine published today by the American Association of People with Disabilities - https://lnkd.in/eA_bwawx

Attention researchers: There is no such thing as an "easy research paper." This paper took us 3+ years to write. We knew from prior research that it costs more to live with a disability (e.g. the disability tax) but we didn't know exactly how much, how those expenses vary, and how often people simply can't afford what they need. As cost of living issues rose to the top of the American and global political agenda, we wanted to dive into the elevated cost of living challenges experienced by disabled people  - what we refer to as The Disability Squeeze. Our top-line results, published in the Disability & Health Journal, found, on average, that people with disabilities reported spending 20% of their income (or $1 for every $5 dollars they have) on their disability-related expenses and that for many the costs are considerably higher. Even more troubling, 2/3 of disabled people across the country reported an unmet need. There are a lot of future research questions to be addressed and you could address them (data can be freely accessed here: https://lnkd.in/dC48AHXc)! https://lnkd.in/dGvsg87x My hope is that this work can help advance needed policy conversations (e.g. on SSI asset limits, COLA adjustments, SSI/DI benefit generosity, the Medicare waiting period, Medicaid/Medicare coverage gaps, making more accessible environments and workplaces). This research required a full team effort and there are lot of people and institutions to thank. Research team members (Stephanie Rennane, Daniel Mont, Nanette Goodman, Amber Davis, Michelle Ballan, Stephen V. McGarity, Ghenet Weldeslassie) - we met monthly for three years(!) and it was an honor to collaborate with you. Expert Advisory Panel members (whose name I won't share) - your feedback was essential from the beginning to end. Arielle Silverman and her colleagues at the American Foundation for the Blind (Sarahelizabeth Baguhn , Sarah Malaier,  Chung Ho Philip So) made enormous contributions including the original insight to call this financial predicament "The Disability Squeeze". I also want to thank our funders - the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research and the National Bureau of Economic Research. Supporting research like this is, in my view, essential for advancing evidence-based policy making. Finally, we dedicate this research to Brooke Ellison, our esteemed colleague and research partner, who knew first hand that access to disability-related goods and services was far less a want than a matter of basic survival and inclusion.

It is really the honour of a lifetime to be published in the American Criminal Law Review with the incomparable Jamelia Morgan at the Center for Racial and Disability Justice! I cannot think about the type of advocate and person I'd be without Professor Morgan's work - it would be impossible to - so working on this project with her has been transformative. More than anything, this Article is dedicated to a world where people in mental health crises are met with the compassion, care, and tenderness they deserve, and never death at the hands of police. And to a world where racial and disability justice are central to the way we treat each other and to the world we continue to build. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/edRUjFZu "Disability criminalization occurs when individuals are exposed to criminal legal system involvement—whether stops, arrests, detention, discipline, and punishment—for engaging in behaviors, norms, and conduct linked to, or caused by, their disabilities. This Article provides a short primer on disability criminalization. It defines the concept before turning to key sites where disability criminalization occurs. The Article concludes with a discussion of Critical Disability Studies and how that discipline may be used by advocates as a vehicle for contesting disability criminalization."

Absolute must read on the damage done by the financialization of health care:

A key U.S. Senate panel rejected a Trump administration push to make major changes to IDEA and defund some disability programs, but significant uncertainty remains, advocates say. https://lnkd.in/ezS-aDua