#disabilityrights — Public Fediverse posts

TREAT 'EM ROUGH (1942)

NSFW

#nsfw #vintage #vintageporn #disabilityRights #xxx #pussy #lesbian #femalenudity #orgasm #aiporn #aiphotography

TREAT 'EM ROUGH (1942)

NSFW

#nsfw #vintage #vintageporn #disabilityRights #xxx #pussy #lesbian #femalenudity #orgasm #aiporn #aiphotography

TREAT 'EM ROUGH (1942)

NSFW

#nsfw #vintage #vintageporn #disabilityRights #xxx #pussy #lesbian #femalenudity #orgasm #aiporn #aiphotography

I'm autistic. Here's what happened to us this week.

- Scottish police used Tasers on children in custody 43 times in one year. Ten of those childran had learning disabilities or autism. A government watchdog says stop. Police Scotland says it will "consider" the recommendation.

- A nonverbal autistic 5-year-old drowned in South Carolina. Warrants allege her parents removed her safety tracker before the trip... then misled searchers about where to look.

- Brazil is considering a bill that goes beyond hiring quotas. It would require employers to change how workplaces actually function for autistic workers. The catch... disclosure still carries real risk.

Plus a dozen more stories that hit where we live.

If your child can't explain what's wrong during a crisis... if keeping a job means hiding who you are... this isn't abstact policy.

This is the week we just lived.

What does this fight look like where you live?

https://johnnyprofaneknapp.substack.com/p/divergent-times-september-39-2026

#ActuallyAutistic #DisabilityRights #Neurodivergent #MentalHealth #Autism #Psychology

Dr. Kirk Adams Book 'The Disability Dividend' Makes Business Case for Inclusion | EINPresswire.com | By Dr. Kirk Adams | Courtesy of the PWD Media Co-Op
https://www.einpresswire.com/article/935860424/dr-kirk-adams-book-the-disability-dividend-makes-business-case-for-inclusion

Only 35% of people with significant disabilities are in the workforce, vs 75% of non-disabled adults. Adams, blind since age five and former CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind, cites Accenture: disability-inclusive companies saw 28% higher revenue.

#DisabilityRights #DisabilityCommunity #BlindCommunity

Dr. Kirk Adams Book 'The Disability Dividend' Makes Business Case for Inclusion | EINPresswire.com | By Dr. Kirk Adams | Courtesy of the PWD Media Co-Op
https://www.einpresswire.com/article/935860424/dr-kirk-adams-book-the-disability-dividend-makes-business-case-for-inclusion

Only 35% of people with significant disabilities are in the workforce, vs 75% of non-disabled adults. Adams, blind since age five and former CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind, cites Accenture: disability-inclusive companies saw 28% higher revenue.

#DisabilityRights #DisabilityCommunity #BlindCommunity

Dr. Kirk Adams Book 'The Disability Dividend' Makes Business Case for Inclusion | EINPresswire.com | By Dr. Kirk Adams | Courtesy of the PWD Media Co-Op
https://www.einpresswire.com/article/935860424/dr-kirk-adams-book-the-disability-dividend-makes-business-case-for-inclusion

Only 35% of people with significant disabilities are in the workforce, vs 75% of non-disabled adults. Adams, blind since age five and former CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind, cites Accenture: disability-inclusive companies saw 28% higher revenue.

#DisabilityRights #DisabilityCommunity #BlindCommunity

I’M LIBERATED BY IT 💎

I’m only just beginning to understand how important the #Disability discussion underneath #AI actually is.

I have been abused for using AI. I have lost a dear friendship over it. I have been told, in various ways, what I should use instead.

Yet many of the alternatives people have suggested, from modern dictation to speech tools, already use AI themselves. AI is increasingly woven into ordinary technology, whether we call it AI or not.

And still, I choose AI Support, #AIS.

Not because I couldn’t survive without it. I could. I lived with the slower rhythm of my disability for decades before this technology appeared.

But with AIS, I feel liberated.

I can speak, I can write, and I can think things through. I can participate without the physical effort of typing, constantly determining how much of myself I get to express before exhaustion takes over.

That matters to me.

People are entirely free to criticise AI. They can refuse to use it themselves. They can raise every legitimate concern about what this technology is doing.

But I am the person with a disability in this life.

I get to choose the tools that help me live it.

@3goodthings
@DigitalCoup
@meditation
@economics_that_works

#Accessibility #AssistiveTechnology #DisabilityRights #Agency #Communication #Voice #Inclusion #Technology #Fediverse #Mastodon

I just urged Congress to pass the Latonya Reeves Freedom Act (S.4865 / H.R.9401), which would protect the right of disabled people to live in our communities and receive care at home instead of being placed in institutions.

I'm writing this from a nursing home. I'm 34, blind, autistic, and multiply disabled — and I don't need this level of care. I'm here because community-based services weren't available to me. That's exactly what this bill is meant to fix.

If you believe disabled people should be able to live where we choose, please add your voice. It only takes a minute:

https://speak4.app/lp/g301tsla

#Olmstead #DisabilityRights #LatonyaReevesFreedomAct #IndependentLiving

My new video essay breaks down compulsory able-bodiedness, fascist rhetoric around "deformity," and why disability is actually a vital source of human diversity and innovation.

https://youtu.be/Bbj1stZwDsc

#DisabilityJustice #DisabilityRights #Ableism #DisabilityStudies #VideoEssay

How to Take Advantage of the HHS Extension | By Mark Miller, Inclusion Impact Accessibility | Courtesy of the PWD Media Co-Op
https://inclusionimpact.co/how-to-take-advantage-of-the-hhs-extension/

The last-minute Title II and HHS deadline extension has organizations wondering what now. Handled correctly, this next year is an opportunity to get accessibility right, mitigate risk, and do it all efficiently and cost-effectively. Mark shares tips to help you decide.

#DisabilityRights #PWDMediaCoOp #ATNewswire #Accessibility #HHS #TitleII

How to Take Advantage of the HHS Extension | By Mark Miller, Inclusion Impact Accessibility | Courtesy of the PWD Media Co-Op
https://inclusionimpact.co/how-to-take-advantage-of-the-hhs-extension/

The last-minute Title II and HHS deadline extension has organizations wondering what now. Handled correctly, this next year is an opportunity to get accessibility right, mitigate risk, and do it all efficiently and cost-effectively. Mark shares tips to help you decide.

#DisabilityRights #PWDMediaCoOp #ATNewswire #Accessibility #HHS #TitleII

How to Take Advantage of the HHS Extension | By Mark Miller, Inclusion Impact Accessibility | Courtesy of the PWD Media Co-Op
https://inclusionimpact.co/how-to-take-advantage-of-the-hhs-extension/

The last-minute Title II and HHS deadline extension has organizations wondering what now. Handled correctly, this next year is an opportunity to get accessibility right, mitigate risk, and do it all efficiently and cost-effectively. Mark shares tips to help you decide.

#DisabilityRights #PWDMediaCoOp #ATNewswire #Accessibility #HHS #TitleII

Manchmal fühlt es sich so ermüdend und frustrierend an, immer noch für Dinge kämpfen zu müssen, die längst selbstverständlich sein sollten: das Recht auf Nähe, Lust, Berührung und Selbstbestimmung.⬇️

#Selbstbestimmung #Sexualassistenz #Inklusion #Inkluencer #DisabilityRights #Queer #Disability #DisabilityAwareness #Behinderung #SexEducation #SexEd #Sexualität #Menschenrechte #Empowerment #Feminismus #Teilhabe #Kohlhammer

#MaineQuestion1 is a good reason to vote in an "off-year" election (you know, when the sneaky types try and pass shit!).

#Mainers like #AbsenteeVoting. Question 1 would make that option harder.

The November referendum has been framed around requiring #VoterID, but it also includes a host of changes to absentee voting.

Rachel Ohm, August 24, 2025

Excerpt: "#MaineVoters have come to increasingly rely on absentee or #MailInBallots — a practice that is routinely targeted by #Republicans politicians as rife with potential fraud, even though evidence doesn’t support that.

"During last year’s presidential election, almost half of all votes cast were absentee. The latest citizen-initiated proposal would make that more difficult.
If passed, it would prohibit voters from requesting absentee ballots by phone, and would require older Mainers and those with disabilities to renew their eligibility each year. The proposal also would limit the number of #DropBoxes municipalities are allowed to have and prohibit them from including prepaid return postage."

Read more:
https://www.pressherald.com/2025/08/21/question-1-would-make-changes-to-absentee-voting-an-option-mainers-increasingly-like/

Archived version:
https://archive.md/CuNbt

#Absentee #BallotAccess #Disabled #Poor #MaineVoters #DisabilityRights #VoterDisenfranchisement #USPol #MainePol #USElections

The War on #Masks Has Taken on a New Meaning

This time, the masks have nothing to do with #COVID19.

By Henry Grabar
Feb 05, 20254:57 PM

"Last month, state legislators in New York introduced a bill that would create a new crime: 'masked harassment.'

"That, the law explains, is when you wear a mask 'for the primary purpose of menacing or threatening violence against another person' or 'placing another person or group of persons in reasonable fear for their physical safety.'

"If that seems like a bit of a niche offense—threatening violence is already a crime, after all—it’s because the language has been watered down to attract political support. It’s a sign of New York Democrats’ cautious new approach over masks in public life, and a retreat from last spring, when anti-Israel protests, on top of a widespread urban crime panic, pushed leaders from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to consider mask bans.

"In its original form, the New York bill would have banned masks at public assemblies entirely. But the outcry from #DisabilityRights advocates, #CriminalJustice reformers, #HealthCareWorkers, and #CivilLiberties groups was swift, and so New York wound up with this bill on 'masked harassment' instead.

"Elsewhere, the pandemic-era leniency on masking in public is over. #NorthCarolina Republicans overrode a gubernatorial veto last summer to once again #BanPublicFaceCoverings, except to stop the spread of contagious diseases. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost dusted off an old law to threaten #StudentProtesters with #felonies. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked the state’s Senate to consider a bill to #unmask #protesters this year.

"For Republicans, it’s a chance to kill two birds with one stone. They can strike back against the perceived overreach of pandemic-era #HealthDirectives and make it easier to arrest #demonstrators at the same time.

"In #Ohio and North Carolina, the original statutes were written in the 1950s to stop demonstrations by the #KuKluxKlan, but had been ignored or suspended during the #pandemic and the #GeorgeFloydProtests. Many lawmakers have cited the recent demonstrations in defense of #Gaza as a reason to crack down again. Defending the proposed mask ban in New York, Anti-Defamation League [#ADL] president Jonathan Greenblatt said the demonstrators were using '#KKK tactics' to intimidate Jewish New Yorkers.

"That instinct was bolstered by the sense among many city residents and elected leaders that widespread masking was a factor behind the pandemic-era crime spike. That led to #Philadelphia banning #SkiMasks in parks, on trains, and in public buildings. A more recent, high-profile example came in December with the Midtown Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO #BrianThompson by a #MaskedAssassin, which prompted New York Mayor Eric Adams to call for cab drivers and business owners to ask customers to remove their masks. The new New York bill has won over the liberal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who endorsed the 'tailored' approach. As the police say: #NoFaceNoCase.

"For what it’s worth, there are too many confounding variables and too little data to be sure if mask-wearing is associated with crime, said Ernesto Lopez at the Council for Criminal Justice, which collects crime reporting statistics from various cities. 'From a theoretical statement it makes sense that could occur, but it has not been demonstrated that’s the case,' he told me.

"But if all that weighed in favor of more mask bans, there was also widespread resistance. Disability advocates mobilized to defend the right to mask; North Carolina had to write a medical exemption into their bill at the insistence of a GOP House member. #PoliceReformers observed that #MaskBans have often been used for pretextual #policing and racial profiling against #BlackAmericans. (#AtlantaGeorgia tabled a mask ban for that reason.)

"What looms largest, as the second Trump administration begins, is the role of protest. As Semafor’s Dave Weigel has noted, masks have become a badge of left-wing protest culture. That’s in part an extension of politicized COVID-era concerns about health and civility, but at this point it is mostly a tactic to preserve anonymity in an era of #FacialRecognition, streaming video, and #doxing. Last year, the anonymous #ProIsrael website the #CanaryMission posted photographs of hundreds of students and faculty at campus protests and posted their names and photos online, labeling some as supporters of terrorism.

"'The concern takes on new urgency as Donald Trump pledges to revoke the visas of pro-Palestine protesters, and the Trump-Musk GOP embraces the naming and shaming of otherwise private citizens. A conservative group called the American Accountability Foundation has begun circulating lists of federal workers, many of them Black, who should be
'targets' for their alleged involvement in #DEI initiatives at work.

"Clearly, the masked protest does not always sit well with an older generation, many of whom cut their teeth in the protests of the pre-internet age. As Georgetown professor Michael Kazin told the New York Times last year: 'I do think if you are going to demonstrate, and it’s something you feel deeply about, you should be willing to stand up and be counted.'"

Source:
https://slate.com/business/2025/02/mask-bans-new-york-los-angeles-crime-protests-criminalize-face-coverings.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
#Fascism #AuthoritarianRule #BigBrother #BigBrotherIsWatchingYou #SurveillanceState #SilencingDissent

The War on #Masks Has Taken on a New Meaning

This time, the masks have nothing to do with #COVID19.

By Henry Grabar
Feb 05, 20254:57 PM

"Last month, state legislators in New York introduced a bill that would create a new crime: 'masked harassment.'

"That, the law explains, is when you wear a mask 'for the primary purpose of menacing or threatening violence against another person' or 'placing another person or group of persons in reasonable fear for their physical safety.'

"If that seems like a bit of a niche offense—threatening violence is already a crime, after all—it’s because the language has been watered down to attract political support. It’s a sign of New York Democrats’ cautious new approach over masks in public life, and a retreat from last spring, when anti-Israel protests, on top of a widespread urban crime panic, pushed leaders from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to consider mask bans.

"In its original form, the New York bill would have banned masks at public assemblies entirely. But the outcry from #DisabilityRights advocates, #CriminalJustice reformers, #HealthCareWorkers, and #CivilLiberties groups was swift, and so New York wound up with this bill on 'masked harassment' instead.

"Elsewhere, the pandemic-era leniency on masking in public is over. #NorthCarolina Republicans overrode a gubernatorial veto last summer to once again #BanPublicFaceCoverings, except to stop the spread of contagious diseases. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost dusted off an old law to threaten #StudentProtesters with #felonies. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked the state’s Senate to consider a bill to #unmask #protesters this year.

"For Republicans, it’s a chance to kill two birds with one stone. They can strike back against the perceived overreach of pandemic-era #HealthDirectives and make it easier to arrest #demonstrators at the same time.

"In #Ohio and North Carolina, the original statutes were written in the 1950s to stop demonstrations by the #KuKluxKlan, but had been ignored or suspended during the #pandemic and the #GeorgeFloydProtests. Many lawmakers have cited the recent demonstrations in defense of #Gaza as a reason to crack down again. Defending the proposed mask ban in New York, Anti-Defamation League [#ADL] president Jonathan Greenblatt said the demonstrators were using '#KKK tactics' to intimidate Jewish New Yorkers.

"That instinct was bolstered by the sense among many city residents and elected leaders that widespread masking was a factor behind the pandemic-era crime spike. That led to #Philadelphia banning #SkiMasks in parks, on trains, and in public buildings. A more recent, high-profile example came in December with the Midtown Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO #BrianThompson by a #MaskedAssassin, which prompted New York Mayor Eric Adams to call for cab drivers and business owners to ask customers to remove their masks. The new New York bill has won over the liberal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who endorsed the 'tailored' approach. As the police say: #NoFaceNoCase.

"For what it’s worth, there are too many confounding variables and too little data to be sure if mask-wearing is associated with crime, said Ernesto Lopez at the Council for Criminal Justice, which collects crime reporting statistics from various cities. 'From a theoretical statement it makes sense that could occur, but it has not been demonstrated that’s the case,' he told me.

"But if all that weighed in favor of more mask bans, there was also widespread resistance. Disability advocates mobilized to defend the right to mask; North Carolina had to write a medical exemption into their bill at the insistence of a GOP House member. #PoliceReformers observed that #MaskBans have often been used for pretextual #policing and racial profiling against #BlackAmericans. (#AtlantaGeorgia tabled a mask ban for that reason.)

"What looms largest, as the second Trump administration begins, is the role of protest. As Semafor’s Dave Weigel has noted, masks have become a badge of left-wing protest culture. That’s in part an extension of politicized COVID-era concerns about health and civility, but at this point it is mostly a tactic to preserve anonymity in an era of #FacialRecognition, streaming video, and #doxing. Last year, the anonymous #ProIsrael website the #CanaryMission posted photographs of hundreds of students and faculty at campus protests and posted their names and photos online, labeling some as supporters of terrorism.

"'The concern takes on new urgency as Donald Trump pledges to revoke the visas of pro-Palestine protesters, and the Trump-Musk GOP embraces the naming and shaming of otherwise private citizens. A conservative group called the American Accountability Foundation has begun circulating lists of federal workers, many of them Black, who should be
'targets' for their alleged involvement in #DEI initiatives at work.

"Clearly, the masked protest does not always sit well with an older generation, many of whom cut their teeth in the protests of the pre-internet age. As Georgetown professor Michael Kazin told the New York Times last year: 'I do think if you are going to demonstrate, and it’s something you feel deeply about, you should be willing to stand up and be counted.'"

Source:
https://slate.com/business/2025/02/mask-bans-new-york-los-angeles-crime-protests-criminalize-face-coverings.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
#Fascism #AuthoritarianRule #BigBrother #BigBrotherIsWatchingYou #SurveillanceState #SilencingDissent

The War on #Masks Has Taken on a New Meaning

This time, the masks have nothing to do with #COVID19.

By Henry Grabar
Feb 05, 20254:57 PM

"Last month, state legislators in New York introduced a bill that would create a new crime: 'masked harassment.'

"That, the law explains, is when you wear a mask 'for the primary purpose of menacing or threatening violence against another person' or 'placing another person or group of persons in reasonable fear for their physical safety.'

"If that seems like a bit of a niche offense—threatening violence is already a crime, after all—it’s because the language has been watered down to attract political support. It’s a sign of New York Democrats’ cautious new approach over masks in public life, and a retreat from last spring, when anti-Israel protests, on top of a widespread urban crime panic, pushed leaders from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to consider mask bans.

"In its original form, the New York bill would have banned masks at public assemblies entirely. But the outcry from #DisabilityRights advocates, #CriminalJustice reformers, #HealthCareWorkers, and #CivilLiberties groups was swift, and so New York wound up with this bill on 'masked harassment' instead.

"Elsewhere, the pandemic-era leniency on masking in public is over. #NorthCarolina Republicans overrode a gubernatorial veto last summer to once again #BanPublicFaceCoverings, except to stop the spread of contagious diseases. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost dusted off an old law to threaten #StudentProtesters with #felonies. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked the state’s Senate to consider a bill to #unmask #protesters this year.

"For Republicans, it’s a chance to kill two birds with one stone. They can strike back against the perceived overreach of pandemic-era #HealthDirectives and make it easier to arrest #demonstrators at the same time.

"In #Ohio and North Carolina, the original statutes were written in the 1950s to stop demonstrations by the #KuKluxKlan, but had been ignored or suspended during the #pandemic and the #GeorgeFloydProtests. Many lawmakers have cited the recent demonstrations in defense of #Gaza as a reason to crack down again. Defending the proposed mask ban in New York, Anti-Defamation League [#ADL] president Jonathan Greenblatt said the demonstrators were using '#KKK tactics' to intimidate Jewish New Yorkers.

"That instinct was bolstered by the sense among many city residents and elected leaders that widespread masking was a factor behind the pandemic-era crime spike. That led to #Philadelphia banning #SkiMasks in parks, on trains, and in public buildings. A more recent, high-profile example came in December with the Midtown Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO #BrianThompson by a #MaskedAssassin, which prompted New York Mayor Eric Adams to call for cab drivers and business owners to ask customers to remove their masks. The new New York bill has won over the liberal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who endorsed the 'tailored' approach. As the police say: #NoFaceNoCase.

"For what it’s worth, there are too many confounding variables and too little data to be sure if mask-wearing is associated with crime, said Ernesto Lopez at the Council for Criminal Justice, which collects crime reporting statistics from various cities. 'From a theoretical statement it makes sense that could occur, but it has not been demonstrated that’s the case,' he told me.

"But if all that weighed in favor of more mask bans, there was also widespread resistance. Disability advocates mobilized to defend the right to mask; North Carolina had to write a medical exemption into their bill at the insistence of a GOP House member. #PoliceReformers observed that #MaskBans have often been used for pretextual #policing and racial profiling against #BlackAmericans. (#AtlantaGeorgia tabled a mask ban for that reason.)

"What looms largest, as the second Trump administration begins, is the role of protest. As Semafor’s Dave Weigel has noted, masks have become a badge of left-wing protest culture. That’s in part an extension of politicized COVID-era concerns about health and civility, but at this point it is mostly a tactic to preserve anonymity in an era of #FacialRecognition, streaming video, and #doxing. Last year, the anonymous #ProIsrael website the #CanaryMission posted photographs of hundreds of students and faculty at campus protests and posted their names and photos online, labeling some as supporters of terrorism.

"'The concern takes on new urgency as Donald Trump pledges to revoke the visas of pro-Palestine protesters, and the Trump-Musk GOP embraces the naming and shaming of otherwise private citizens. A conservative group called the American Accountability Foundation has begun circulating lists of federal workers, many of them Black, who should be
'targets' for their alleged involvement in #DEI initiatives at work.

"Clearly, the masked protest does not always sit well with an older generation, many of whom cut their teeth in the protests of the pre-internet age. As Georgetown professor Michael Kazin told the New York Times last year: 'I do think if you are going to demonstrate, and it’s something you feel deeply about, you should be willing to stand up and be counted.'"

Source:
https://slate.com/business/2025/02/mask-bans-new-york-los-angeles-crime-protests-criminalize-face-coverings.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
#Fascism #AuthoritarianRule #BigBrother #BigBrotherIsWatchingYou #SurveillanceState #SilencingDissent

The War on #Masks Has Taken on a New Meaning

This time, the masks have nothing to do with #COVID19.

By Henry Grabar
Feb 05, 20254:57 PM

"Last month, state legislators in New York introduced a bill that would create a new crime: 'masked harassment.'

"That, the law explains, is when you wear a mask 'for the primary purpose of menacing or threatening violence against another person' or 'placing another person or group of persons in reasonable fear for their physical safety.'

"If that seems like a bit of a niche offense—threatening violence is already a crime, after all—it’s because the language has been watered down to attract political support. It’s a sign of New York Democrats’ cautious new approach over masks in public life, and a retreat from last spring, when anti-Israel protests, on top of a widespread urban crime panic, pushed leaders from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to consider mask bans.

"In its original form, the New York bill would have banned masks at public assemblies entirely. But the outcry from #DisabilityRights advocates, #CriminalJustice reformers, #HealthCareWorkers, and #CivilLiberties groups was swift, and so New York wound up with this bill on 'masked harassment' instead.

"Elsewhere, the pandemic-era leniency on masking in public is over. #NorthCarolina Republicans overrode a gubernatorial veto last summer to once again #BanPublicFaceCoverings, except to stop the spread of contagious diseases. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost dusted off an old law to threaten #StudentProtesters with #felonies. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked the state’s Senate to consider a bill to #unmask #protesters this year.

"For Republicans, it’s a chance to kill two birds with one stone. They can strike back against the perceived overreach of pandemic-era #HealthDirectives and make it easier to arrest #demonstrators at the same time.

"In #Ohio and North Carolina, the original statutes were written in the 1950s to stop demonstrations by the #KuKluxKlan, but had been ignored or suspended during the #pandemic and the #GeorgeFloydProtests. Many lawmakers have cited the recent demonstrations in defense of #Gaza as a reason to crack down again. Defending the proposed mask ban in New York, Anti-Defamation League [#ADL] president Jonathan Greenblatt said the demonstrators were using '#KKK tactics' to intimidate Jewish New Yorkers.

"That instinct was bolstered by the sense among many city residents and elected leaders that widespread masking was a factor behind the pandemic-era crime spike. That led to #Philadelphia banning #SkiMasks in parks, on trains, and in public buildings. A more recent, high-profile example came in December with the Midtown Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO #BrianThompson by a #MaskedAssassin, which prompted New York Mayor Eric Adams to call for cab drivers and business owners to ask customers to remove their masks. The new New York bill has won over the liberal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who endorsed the 'tailored' approach. As the police say: #NoFaceNoCase.

"For what it’s worth, there are too many confounding variables and too little data to be sure if mask-wearing is associated with crime, said Ernesto Lopez at the Council for Criminal Justice, which collects crime reporting statistics from various cities. 'From a theoretical statement it makes sense that could occur, but it has not been demonstrated that’s the case,' he told me.

"But if all that weighed in favor of more mask bans, there was also widespread resistance. Disability advocates mobilized to defend the right to mask; North Carolina had to write a medical exemption into their bill at the insistence of a GOP House member. #PoliceReformers observed that #MaskBans have often been used for pretextual #policing and racial profiling against #BlackAmericans. (#AtlantaGeorgia tabled a mask ban for that reason.)

"What looms largest, as the second Trump administration begins, is the role of protest. As Semafor’s Dave Weigel has noted, masks have become a badge of left-wing protest culture. That’s in part an extension of politicized COVID-era concerns about health and civility, but at this point it is mostly a tactic to preserve anonymity in an era of #FacialRecognition, streaming video, and #doxing. Last year, the anonymous #ProIsrael website the #CanaryMission posted photographs of hundreds of students and faculty at campus protests and posted their names and photos online, labeling some as supporters of terrorism.

"'The concern takes on new urgency as Donald Trump pledges to revoke the visas of pro-Palestine protesters, and the Trump-Musk GOP embraces the naming and shaming of otherwise private citizens. A conservative group called the American Accountability Foundation has begun circulating lists of federal workers, many of them Black, who should be
'targets' for their alleged involvement in #DEI initiatives at work.

"Clearly, the masked protest does not always sit well with an older generation, many of whom cut their teeth in the protests of the pre-internet age. As Georgetown professor Michael Kazin told the New York Times last year: 'I do think if you are going to demonstrate, and it’s something you feel deeply about, you should be willing to stand up and be counted.'"

Source:
https://slate.com/business/2025/02/mask-bans-new-york-los-angeles-crime-protests-criminalize-face-coverings.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
#Fascism #AuthoritarianRule #BigBrother #BigBrotherIsWatchingYou #SurveillanceState #SilencingDissent

The War on #Masks Has Taken on a New Meaning

This time, the masks have nothing to do with #COVID19.

By Henry Grabar
Feb 05, 20254:57 PM

"Last month, state legislators in New York introduced a bill that would create a new crime: 'masked harassment.'

"That, the law explains, is when you wear a mask 'for the primary purpose of menacing or threatening violence against another person' or 'placing another person or group of persons in reasonable fear for their physical safety.'

"If that seems like a bit of a niche offense—threatening violence is already a crime, after all—it’s because the language has been watered down to attract political support. It’s a sign of New York Democrats’ cautious new approach over masks in public life, and a retreat from last spring, when anti-Israel protests, on top of a widespread urban crime panic, pushed leaders from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to consider mask bans.

"In its original form, the New York bill would have banned masks at public assemblies entirely. But the outcry from #DisabilityRights advocates, #CriminalJustice reformers, #HealthCareWorkers, and #CivilLiberties groups was swift, and so New York wound up with this bill on 'masked harassment' instead.

"Elsewhere, the pandemic-era leniency on masking in public is over. #NorthCarolina Republicans overrode a gubernatorial veto last summer to once again #BanPublicFaceCoverings, except to stop the spread of contagious diseases. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost dusted off an old law to threaten #StudentProtesters with #felonies. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked the state’s Senate to consider a bill to #unmask #protesters this year.

"For Republicans, it’s a chance to kill two birds with one stone. They can strike back against the perceived overreach of pandemic-era #HealthDirectives and make it easier to arrest #demonstrators at the same time.

"In #Ohio and North Carolina, the original statutes were written in the 1950s to stop demonstrations by the #KuKluxKlan, but had been ignored or suspended during the #pandemic and the #GeorgeFloydProtests. Many lawmakers have cited the recent demonstrations in defense of #Gaza as a reason to crack down again. Defending the proposed mask ban in New York, Anti-Defamation League [#ADL] president Jonathan Greenblatt said the demonstrators were using '#KKK tactics' to intimidate Jewish New Yorkers.

"That instinct was bolstered by the sense among many city residents and elected leaders that widespread masking was a factor behind the pandemic-era crime spike. That led to #Philadelphia banning #SkiMasks in parks, on trains, and in public buildings. A more recent, high-profile example came in December with the Midtown Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO #BrianThompson by a #MaskedAssassin, which prompted New York Mayor Eric Adams to call for cab drivers and business owners to ask customers to remove their masks. The new New York bill has won over the liberal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who endorsed the 'tailored' approach. As the police say: #NoFaceNoCase.

"For what it’s worth, there are too many confounding variables and too little data to be sure if mask-wearing is associated with crime, said Ernesto Lopez at the Council for Criminal Justice, which collects crime reporting statistics from various cities. 'From a theoretical statement it makes sense that could occur, but it has not been demonstrated that’s the case,' he told me.

"But if all that weighed in favor of more mask bans, there was also widespread resistance. Disability advocates mobilized to defend the right to mask; North Carolina had to write a medical exemption into their bill at the insistence of a GOP House member. #PoliceReformers observed that #MaskBans have often been used for pretextual #policing and racial profiling against #BlackAmericans. (#AtlantaGeorgia tabled a mask ban for that reason.)

"What looms largest, as the second Trump administration begins, is the role of protest. As Semafor’s Dave Weigel has noted, masks have become a badge of left-wing protest culture. That’s in part an extension of politicized COVID-era concerns about health and civility, but at this point it is mostly a tactic to preserve anonymity in an era of #FacialRecognition, streaming video, and #doxing. Last year, the anonymous #ProIsrael website the #CanaryMission posted photographs of hundreds of students and faculty at campus protests and posted their names and photos online, labeling some as supporters of terrorism.

"'The concern takes on new urgency as Donald Trump pledges to revoke the visas of pro-Palestine protesters, and the Trump-Musk GOP embraces the naming and shaming of otherwise private citizens. A conservative group called the American Accountability Foundation has begun circulating lists of federal workers, many of them Black, who should be
'targets' for their alleged involvement in #DEI initiatives at work.

"Clearly, the masked protest does not always sit well with an older generation, many of whom cut their teeth in the protests of the pre-internet age. As Georgetown professor Michael Kazin told the New York Times last year: 'I do think if you are going to demonstrate, and it’s something you feel deeply about, you should be willing to stand up and be counted.'"

Source:
https://slate.com/business/2025/02/mask-bans-new-york-los-angeles-crime-protests-criminalize-face-coverings.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
#Fascism #AuthoritarianRule #BigBrother #BigBrotherIsWatchingYou #SurveillanceState #SilencingDissent

Why Canada needs a national disability strategy
#Canada #Health #Disability #Advocacy #Neurodiversity #DisabilityRights #InclusionForAll #Equity #AccessibleCanada #NationalDisabilityStrategy #BarrierFreeCanada #Fairness #DisabilityAdvocacy
https://the-14.com/why-canada-needs-a-national-disability-strategy/

Why Canada needs a national disability strategy
#Canada #Health #Disability #Advocacy #Neurodiversity #DisabilityRights #InclusionForAll #Equity #AccessibleCanada #NationalDisabilityStrategy #BarrierFreeCanada #Fairness #DisabilityAdvocacy
https://the-14.com/why-canada-needs-a-national-disability-strategy/

DWP to face inquiry into deaths of disabled people
https://www.thecanary.co/opinion/2024/05/22/dwp-inquiry-deaths/

#DWP
#DisabilityRights
#HumanRights
#Disabled
#Deaths
#EHRC
#PIP
#Stride
#Coffey
#Rudd
#Smith
#Truss
#IDS
#Vouchers
#FitNote
#AI
#Bootcamps
#GE2024
#GE

What You Need to Know for Friday's Vote! [Accessible Version]

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#FamilyRef #CareRef #WorkersAndCarers #Referendum #Carers #Disability #DisabilityRights #Ireland #IrishPolitics #Democracy #CarersAreWorkers #WorkersAreCarers #HumanRights

What You Need to Know for Friday's Vote! [Accessible Version]

(1/2)

#FamilyRef #CareRef #WorkersAndCarers #Referendum #Carers #Disability #DisabilityRights #Ireland #IrishPolitics #Democracy #CarersAreWorkers #WorkersAreCarers #HumanRights

Scrap plans to scan accounts of benefit claimants or risk new scandal, MPs told | Benefits | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/04/ministers-urged-to-scrap-plans-for-surveillance-of-benefit-claimants-bank-accounts

#Benefits
#BankAccountChecks
#BankAccounts
#Scandal
#MPs
#DWP
#AutomatedChecks
#Automation
#DisabilityRightsUK
#BigBrotherWatch
#DisabilityRights
#Carers
#CarersRights
#Disabled
#Pensioners
#CriminalByDefault
#DataProtectionAndDigitalInformationBill
#ChildPovertyAction
#Mind
#AgeUK
#ErrorsInBenefitsTopUps
#UC

@EU_Commission How can he do it as a blind person? Does he need help? Is that how you design #accessibility #accessibilityfail #accessibility_concerns #a11y #A11yElders ? #europeanunion @juliemoynat @armonyaltinier @kujiu #europeancommission #european_commission #EuropeanCommissionPresident #disability #disabilityrights #citizen #citizenship #citizens

@EU_Commission To register on the Transparency Register in Eurorpe, the @debianFR president @debian needs to use EU login (excluding Fdroid users probably, and person with so old mobile phone), but also he needs to take a snapshot of the qrcode! #europeanunion @juliemoynat @armonyaltinier @kujiu #europeancommission #european_commission #EuropeanCommissionPresident #accessibility #accessibilityfail #accessibility_concerns #a11y #A11yElders #disability #disabilityrights #citizen #citizenship

@EU_Commission How can European Law require from Member States to set accessible their public service websites while your own services are not at all? #europeancommission #european_commission #EuropeanCommissionPresident #accessibility #accessibilityfail #accessibility_concerns #a11y #A11yElders #disability #disabilityrights #citizen #citizenship #citizens

@EU_Commission How can European Law require from Member States to set accessible their public service websites while your own services are not at all? #europeancommission #european_commission #EuropeanCommissionPresident #accessibility #accessibilityfail #accessibility_concerns #a11y #A11yElders #disability #disabilityrights #citizen #citizenship

@EU_Commission How can he do it as a blind person? Does he need help? Is that how you design #accessibility #accessibilityfail #accessibility_concerns #a11y #A11yElders ? #europeanunion @juliemoynat @armonyaltinier @kujiu #europeancommission #european_commission #EuropeanCommissionPresident #disability #disabilityrights #citizen #citizenship #citizens

@EU_Commission To register on the Transparency Register, the @debianFR president @debian needs to use EU login (excluding Fdroid users probably, and person with so old mobile phone), but also he needs to take a snapshot of the qrcode! #europeanunion @juliemoynat @armonyaltinier @kujiu #europeancommission #european_commission #EuropeanCommissionPresident #accessibility #accessibilityfail #accessibility_concerns #a11y #A11yElders #disability #disabilityrights #citizen #citizenship #citizens

@EU_Commission How can European Law require from Member States to set accessible their public service websites while your own services are not at all? #europeancommission #european_commission #EuropeanCommissionPresident #accessibility #accessibilityfail #accessibility_concerns #a11y #A11yElders #disability #disabilityrights #citizen #citizenship #citizens