What NPR readers want you to know about living with a disability

Plus, debunking the conspiracy theories that swirled after Biden dropped out of the race.

View this email online by Suzanne Nuyen July 28, 2024 Good morning. This week, Netflix announced it was ending its cheapest ad-free subscription plan, scientists found evidence that sharks are ingesting cocaine in the ocean, and overheated soda cans exploded on Southwest flights Best of NPR To celebrate Disability Pride Month, I asked newsletter readers and NPR listeners to share their experiences with disability. I wanted to know: What's one thing you wish people knew about living with a disability?  Courtesy of Laura Williams, Hannah Soyer, Denise DiNoto, Marty Slighte, Kristen Bettega, Rami Ungar, Mike Fitzsimmons, Sara Burback, Kathy Hyde and Rebekah Taussig. Overwhelmingly, you told me that disabilities aren't one size fits all. I received answers from people with disabilities ranging from physical to mental, developmental and cognitive. Nearly everyone emphasized that not all disabilities are visible or immediately recognizable from looking at someone.  You also had many differences of opinion. "Disability is vast, varied and beautiful," Hannah Soyer of Des Moines, Iowa, said. "My lived experience as a queer disabled woman is unique to me, as is the lived experience of every other disabled person." Nearly 300 people shared their stories with me. Reading through all of them left me with a renewed drive to make sure I'm supporting my loved ones with disabilities in the way that they want to be supported. If I had space, I'd share every response. Here are some of the biggest takeaways NPR readers with disabilities want you to know:  1️⃣ It could happen to you. "Most people will become disabled sometime before they die," Marty Slighte, who has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, says. "Disabled people are just like you. We have hopes and dreams, wants, and desires. We love and need to be loved." 2️⃣ Disability is a spectrum.  "I have good days and bad days, sometimes with significant swings in between," Kristen Kingzett, who has juvenile idiopathic arthritis, says. "So, if you see a person doing something one day and they say they can't do that same thing a different day, that doesn't mean that they're lying, scamming, or lazy."  3️⃣ Ask someone with a disability what they're capable of. "People with disabilities often have developed ways to help themselves that you may not recognize. Always ASK,"  Kathy Hyde says. She was born with a dislocated right hip and club foot and uses crutches and wheelchairs to get around. 4️⃣ Disabled people are whole, complex individuals. "My disability defines me just as much and just as little as being a woman, parent or educator," Rebekah Taussig, who has incomplete paralysis from childhood cancer, says.  Thank you to everyone that took the time to share their experiences with me. You can read more thoughtful reflections on life with a disability from fellow newsletter readers here. Newsletter continues after sponsor message The Week That Was Merve/YouTube In the digital age, it can be really hard to focus between texts, DMs, push alerts, and phone calls. However, for some people, digital devices can increase focus and productivity through a technique called body doubling. Real-time videos of people studying, working, or cleaning get millions of views online as users virtually join in to do chores together. Babies don’t come with instruction manuals. But at least in Oregon, they come with a nurse. A new state program offers any family with a new baby a no-cost visit at home with a trained nurse. It’s Oregon’s response to the country’s dismal infant and maternal mortality rates. President Biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 race followed weeks of pressure from Democrats about his age and ability to win and serve another four years. Still, conspiracy theories swirled in the wake of his resignation announcement. On the most extreme end, Charlie Kirk of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA and far-right activist Laura Loomer suggested, without evidence, that Biden may be dying or already dead. Others, including billionaire hedge fund boss Bill Ackman, raised doubts over the president’s letter announcing his decision, baselessly suggesting his signature wasn’t really his. We fact-check these claims here. Wild Card with Rachel Martin Part-interview, part-existential game show – this is Wild Card from NPR. Host Rachel Martin rips up the typical interview script and invites guests to play a game about life's biggest questions. Rachel takes actors, artists and thinkers on a choose-your-own-adventure conversation that lets them open up about their fears, their joys and how they've built meaning from experience – all with the help of a very special deck of cards. LISTEN NOW Podcast Picks NPR/Christina Chung Tradeoffs: The Fifth Branch, from WYFI: EMS, Fire, Police and the 911 Call Center make up the existing four branches of the public safety system. A special series from Tradeoffs and The Marshall Project explores how a city radically changes its response to people in crisis by creating a fifth branch. 🎧 Nearly half of the country's 50 largest cities have launched programs to send unarmed responders to 911 calls historically handled by cops, creating a new generation of first responders made up of clinicians, EMTs and unarmed mental health workers, all responding to people who struggle with addiction, homelessness and mental illness. To understand this work, head to Durham, N.C., which has — in the face of skepticism and downright opposition — built one of the most comprehensive programs in the country.  The Pulse, from WHYY: Adventure into unexpected corners of the health and science world each week by peeking behind the doors of operating rooms and labs with some of the world's foremost scientists. 🎧 The business aspect of medicine is an invisible force in the doctor's office. As patients, financial worries can affect whether we go to the doctor in the first place, make us suspicious of expensive procedures, or even cause us to turn down necessary care. And patients aren't the only ones worrying about money — on the provider side, everyone from doctors to hospitals to insurance companies is also weighing the costs and benefits of expensive tests and treatments. On this episode, explore the complicated relationship between medicine and money and how it affects patient care. Inheriting: Explore how one event in history can ripple through generations of Asian American and Pacific Islander families. This show seeks to break apart the AAPI monolith and tell a fuller story. 🎧 Shakeel Syed has been a longtime activist within his South Asian community, fighting for the civil liberties of Muslims who were targeted by the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. But his activism had a cost. He was away from home on nights and weekends, absent from his wife, Saira Sayeed, and their four kids. Saira took on the work at home alone, and they've never really talked about it. Now, for the first time, Shakeel and Saira open up about the roles they played after 9/11 and the future they want to build together. Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from Central Florida Public Media (edit station). This newsletter was edited by Carol Ritchie. Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! 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