Tootfinder

“Supreme Court win for girl with epilepsy expected to make disability lawsuits against schools easier”
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-disabilities-schools-education-access-lawsuits-56f67cf12f1f9c4a7e…

Supreme Court rules for girl with epilepsy in case over access to education
A teenage girl with a rare form of epilepsy has won a unanimous Supreme Court ruling that’s expected to make it easier for families of children with disabilities to sue schools over access to education. Thursday's ruling comes after her family said her Minnesota school district didn’t do enough to get her the disability accommodations she needs to learn. The girl and her family appealed to the Supreme Court after lower courts ruled against their disability discrimination case. Some courts h…

Supreme Court to decide on disability discrimination standard
https://prismreports.org/2025/06/11/disability-discrimination-supreme-court-ajt-v-osseo/

EqualMotion: Accessible Motion Capture for the Creative Industries
Clarice Hilton, Kat Hawkins, Phill Tew, Freddie Collins, Seb Madgwick, Dominic Potts, Tom Mitchell
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.08744

EqualMotion: Accessible Motion Capture for the Creative Industries
Motion capture technologies are increasingly used in creative and performance contexts but often exclude disabled practitioners due to normative assumptions in body modeling, calibration, and avatar representation. EqualMotion introduces a body-agnostic, wearable motion capture system designed through a disability-centred co-design approach. By enabling personalised calibration, integrating mobility aids, and adopting an inclusive visual language, EqualMotion supports diverse body types and mov…

Listen to The Briefing Room. @DAaronovitch on the really important question. Why has the rise in people claiming disability benefits been so much higher in UK than elsewhere? This is much more interesting than journos harping on about "humiliation".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002f9fz

The Briefing Room - Why is there a row about disability benefits? - BBC Sounds
David Aaronovitch and guests discuss why the benefits bill for disability has ballooned.

The University of Michigan paid over $800,000 to Amerishield,
parent company to a private security company called City Shield.
It was part of a broader
👉 $3 million public‑security budget, which included ⚠️surveillance of pro‑Palestinian student activists.
The university hired plainclothes agents who 💥trailed students into cafés, harassed them, and even staged confrontations,
including faking a disability to falsely accuse them of theft.
City Shield, a p…

US Campuses Have Become the Newest Laboratories for Surveillance Technology
From Gaza to the US, military-grade surveillance tools are being deployed to monitor and punish student dissent.

“We need to go beyond legislation to a cultural change, where disability is treated as an identity to be celebrated.”
Brilliant article in the FT on housing design for disability and the aesthetics of accessibility
https://www.ft.com/content/05309cf9-96d9-460…

The aesthetics of accessibility: design for disability that’s dynamic not dreary
Architecture is at a fertile inflection point. But while housebuilding goals, sustainability and retrofitting are dominating the agenda, why does accessibility too often remain an afterthought?

Get Real: Talking Mental Health & Disability
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: https://www.greataustralianpods.com/get-real-talking-mental-health-disability/

Yesterday and today I issued four handmade parking tickets, and left them on the windshield of each vehicle. I hope that when they return to their vehicle, they feel embarrassed. I am a below knee amputee. I am what most people would call disabled, however there are only a few areas of my life in which I actually feel disabled, and it is more accurate to describe me as having an impairment rather than a disability.

Sei laut, sei sichtbar – gerade jetzt
https://taz.de/Sichtbarkeit-beim-Disability-Pride-Month/!6093268/

So.. this Apple Liquid Glass thing that people are losing their minds over.. is just a new skin/theme (essentially).
With translucent, lower contrast icons. (which Im sure have been thoroughly tested with visual disability aids and their users?)
Exciting "news".
https://mastodo…

BasicAppleGuy (@BasicAppleGuy@mastodon.social)
Attached: 2 images Liquid Glass #WWDC25

800.000 USD WTF
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/06/michigan-university-gaza-surveillance

masks at protests / demographics
Interestingly, at the May Day gathering I was the only one in a mask.
Thinking about the contrast with the trans protest the other week, where "good" (fitted not floppy) masks were dotted about throughout the crowd, and felt normalised.
Today's march was a less crowded event than the trans protest, so pretty low-risk for covid transmission anyway. But then when we got to the mini-fair after the march, indoors at the Friends' Meeting House, I didn't see anyone masking indoors either.
I wonder about the demographics of that difference. Seems like there's a traditional union/Labour left who share the mainstream denial of present-day covid, and a statistically more disabled & marginalised cohort where trans awareness and disability/illness awareness overlap.
#masks #CovidIsntOver

Just in case you haven't already seen this - and the summary: Vaccines are safe, they are tested and there is a robust tracking system to detect possible problems.
https://theconversation.com/im-a-physi

I’m a physician who has looked at hundreds of studies of vaccine safety, and here’s some of what RFK Jr. gets wrong
The health secretary has made many inaccurate statements about vaccines. But the science is clear that vaccines have dramatically reduced childhood illness, disability and death.

Just in case you haven't already seen this - and the summary: Vaccines are safe, they are tested and there is a robust tracking system to detect possible problems.
https://theconversation.com/im-a-physi

I’m a physician who has looked at hundreds of studies of vaccine safety, and here’s some of what RFK Jr. gets wrong
The health secretary has made many inaccurate statements about vaccines. But the science is clear that vaccines have dramatically reduced childhood illness, disability and death.

Yes, I'm #ActuallyAutistic!
Did you know that mutations in the SETD5 gene are associated with a rare neurodevelopmental disorder? This condition often includes features like intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and facial dysmorphism.
There are only about 250 people worldwide with this specific genetic change, and I’m one of them! I’m here, I’m th…

Minister finally admits that working-age benefits spending is stable, despite months of ‘spiralling’ claims
and suggested that the government needed to cut spending on PIP, even though disabled people were only claiming it because they were struggling due to the cost-of-living crisis.
– Disability News Service

Minister finally admits that working-age benefits spending is stable, despite months of ‘spiralling’ claims
A minister has finally admitted that spending on working-age benefits is stable, and is not spiralling out of control, despite months of claims from his own department and fellow ministers. Sir Ste…

Joint Modeling for Learning Decision-Making Dynamics in Behavioral Experiments
Yuan Bian, Xingche Guo, Yuanjia Wang
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02394 https:…

Joint Modeling for Learning Decision-Making Dynamics in Behavioral Experiments
Major depressive disorder (MDD), a leading cause of disability and mortality, is associated with reward-processing abnormalities and concentration issues. Motivated by the probabilistic reward task from the Establishing Moderators and Biosignatures of Antidepressant Response in Clinical Care (EMBARC) study, we propose a novel framework that integrates the reinforcement learning (RL) model and drift-diffusion model (DDM) to jointly analyze reward-based decision-making with response times. To acc…

My Bartlett School of Architecture colleague Nina Vollenbroker is organising a session on 'Environments of Disability' at this year's AHRA conference in Liverpool (22-24 Nov 2025), based on the premise that architectural processes are central producers of disability
Abstracts are due 2nd June, call for papers and more info:

Open Letter to CRL from the academic wing of #CripLib - ACRLog
https://acrlog.or…

Open Letter to CRL from the academic wing of #CripLib - ACRLog
Editor's note: We welcome a guest blog post from the academic librarians of #CripLib, which focuses on the intersection of disability and library work. Note: The focus is on our concerns about the quality of the article and the editorial process that led to it being published as research - NOT on the author as

Sheri Byrne-Haber points out that some disability-related orgs use overlays and as a result you should probably not trust those orgs:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sheribyrnehaber_access…

Autism Speaks. | Sheri Byrne-Haber (disabled)
Autism Speaks. United Spinal Association. Special Olympics. @Sins Invalid. What do they have in common? They are all organizations that claim to be allies of people who are neurodiverse or have disabilities. Every single one of them uses an overlay on their websites. Overlays are shortcuts that don’t resolve accessibility barriers created through sloppy coding practices. They create a false sense of compliance, often interfering with assistive technology and user experience. Overlay compan…

Framework of a multiscale data-driven digital twin of the muscle-skeletal system
Martina Paccini, Simone Cammarasana, Giuseppe Patan\`e
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.11821

Framework of a multiscale data-driven digital twin of the muscle-skeletal system
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are a leading cause of disability worldwide, requiring advanced diagnostic and therapeutic tools for personalised assessment and treatment. Effective management of MSDs involves the interaction of heterogeneous data sources, making the Digital Twin (DT) paradigm a valuable option. This paper introduces the Musculoskeletal Digital Twin (MS-DT), a novel framework that integrates multiscale biomechanical data with computational modelling to create a detailed, patie…

Refining Participatory Design for AAC Users
Blade Frisch, Keith Vertanen
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.19995 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.…

Refining Participatory Design for AAC Users
Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is a field of research and practice that works with people who have a communication disability. One form AAC can take is a high-tech tool, such as a software-based communication system. Like all user interfaces, these systems must be designed and it is critical to include AAC users in the design process for their systems. A participatory design approach can include AAC users in the design process, but modifications may be necessary to make these …

After the #Trump administration is revealed to have a list of #BannedWords used for #censorship, I think we can a safely assume it's an emerging

benefits, taxes, Starmer etc
Well done disability activists for championing (relative) fairness, care and sense. You shouldn't have had to deal with that cruel nonsense, but you led the way, and I appreciate it.
Tip of the hat to Labour rebels.
Keir Starmer you should fix the tax system now. #TaxWealthNotWork.
There's a campaign for a new 2% tax on wealth over £10,000,000, which seems entirely reasonable to me.
#disability #benefits #UK #UKPol #KeirStarmer #LabourParty

Workplace Adjustments For Energy Limiting Conditions - free online event
On Zoom, Monday 16 June 2025
1pm - 2pm BST
From Astriid, a UK charity aiming "to make working practice more inclusive for people with long-term conditions"
"Are you seeking work alongside managing a long-term health condition? Join our free Spring Into Inclusive Employment Webinars!
"Working with an energy limiting condition is tough, but workplace adjustments can make things more manageable. In this session we’ll explore examples of reasonable adjustments to your working patterns, environment, and communication preferences that can all help you to thrive in your role while taking care of yourself."
Book here:
#ChronicIllness #disability #work #access #ReasonableAdjustments #UK

After the #Trump administration is revealed to have a list of #BannedWords used for #censorship, I think we can a safely assume it's an emerging

Trade Unionists Against the Benefit Cuts (UKPol)
Good letter, including both the principle of the thing and the likely outcomes in practice. Starmer & co should take note.
"We the undersigned are trade unionists opposed to the Universal Credit and Personal Independence bill, designed to restrict access to PIP and to reduce the sickness element (LCWRA) of UC. We believe this is shameful anti-worker and anti-working class legislation. ...
"Not only will these cuts cause increased financial hardship for some of those made vulnerable by a disabling society, but will also add considerable expenses and a much increased workload to workers in several sectors. This is because more people will be plunged into debt. More people will be served with eviction notices... Cutting incomes will push people further from work...
"The Disability Policy thinktank forecast that the cuts will lead to £1.2bn in extra costs for the NHS and local care services provided by councils, raising the alarm for both councillors and MPs whether the cuts will backfire even on their own economic terms."
Still accepting signatures:
#disability #benefits #unions #NHS #debt #UK #UKPol