Fighting Back Under a 2nd Trump Administration, Part 2
In December, we discussed some of the ways that we can fight for our local communities through electoral organizing, including running for local office, running for state office, and ballot measure advocacy. However, we know that electoral organizing is just one tool in the fight for our communities, and it’s one that many people may feel wary about, especially right now. Some people feel disillusioned and frustrated by electoral organizing, feeling like working within the electoral system takes too long and is too incremental. Luckily, there are many other ways to take action to protect our communities and fight for change.
In this piece, we will highlight just a few options for taking action. Read on to learn more about how you can get involved in disability organizing, workplace unionization efforts, protecting our libraries, and clean air advocacy, and learn about your rights if you plan to protest as a disabled person. These options are still far from the only ways you can get involved in the fight to protect your community. Think about what causes matter to you and research how you can help. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. It is likely that there are already people and groups organizing on these issues, so reach out to them to get involved.
Get Involved in Disability Organizing to Fight for Policy Change
When the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid were under threat during the first Trump administration, disability activists from around the country mobilized to save these programs, putting their bodies on the line in the halls of Congress. For disabled people, this is nothing new: from the 504 protests to the Capitol Crawl, disability activism has a rich history in the United States.
While protests and direct action are important and attention-grabbing, they are just one piece of the disability organizing puzzle. Millions of people were also calling their members of Congress, arranging meetings with their legislators, sharing their health care stories, and talking to their neighbors and community members about Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. If you are interested in getting involved with disability organizing, here are a few ideas:
New Disabled South is working to build coalitions of disability justice activists across 14 southern states. You can sign up to get involved with their grassroots organizing work in these states and work on issues from Medicare and Medicaid to voting rights. Get involved with New Disabled South.
Caring Across Generations is a national organization of family caregivers, care workers, disabled people, and aging adults advocating for affordable, accessible, and equitable care. They run advocacy campaigns on three pillars of care: child care, aging and disability care, and paid leave. They offer many ways to take action, including contacting your Representatives to advocate for care, sharing your story, and joining their online care activist team. Get involved with Caring Across Generations.
Little Lobbyists is an organization fighting to protect and expand the rights of children who have complex medical needs and disabilities through advocacy, education, and outreach. They invite parents or guardians of children with disabilities to get involved by sharing their stories, contacting legislators, and joining for Capitol Hill visits. Get involved with Little Lobbyists.
These are just three examples of opportunities to get involved with disability organizing; however, this is not an exhaustive list. We encourage you to find opportunities to get involved with local and state disability organizing groups.
Unionize Your Workplace
Workers with disabilities experience significant barriers in the workplace, from fighting for necessary accommodations to not receiving pay equal to that of their nondisabled colleagues. Unionizing can provide a path for all workers, and particularly disabled workers, to have more equitable workplaces, safer working conditions, and better wages and benefits. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, wages for disabled workers with union representation were nearly 18% higher than wages for disabled workers without union representation, and disabled union workers were around 20% more likely to have employer-sponsored health insurance than disabled non-union workers. Unionization has also been shown to reduce the pay gap between disabled and nondisabled unionized workers: non-union workers with disabilities earned 13% less than their nondisabled colleagues, while disabled union members earned only 3% less, according to a study of the disability wage gap between 2009 and 2018.
Unionized workers have spoken about how solidarity, especially solidarity with disabled workers, has enabled them to more strongly fight for worker protections and accommodations. However, unions must also be proactive in ensuring that their organizing efforts are accessible to all and that they do not perpetuate the same barriers to access that are present in the workplaces. The California Faculty Association’s Disability Caucus has fought for accessibility and inclusion within the union, and they have received important accommodations such as high-quality captioning and American Sign Language at meetings that make those meetings more accessible.
If you’re in a unionized workplace and you want to get involved, the first step is to reach out to your union organizer directly about how to get involved. If you are not in a unionized workplace, you may want to start by reaching out to a union organizer and learning more about the unionization process. Which union should you talk to? Repro Jobs has a great article on how to find unions and research them to find out if they match your (and your colleagues’) values.
If you’re not looking to join a union, you can still support the labor movement by showing solidarity. The American Friends Service Committee has a great article on how to show solidarity by supporting strikes and labor actions.
Protect Our Libraries
As of March 2024, there was a 92% increase in requests to ban books as a wave of anti-library censorship and legislation has moved across the country. According to Book Riot, public libraries are under attack from multiple fronts, from appointment of pro-censorship members to library boards, to local and state government pressure to remove LGBTQ+ books, to privatization of public libraries.
Libraries are one of the most important services in our communities, and 78% of Americans trust libraries as information sources, revealing a high level of trust and support for our public libraries. Libraries provide critical services such as computer access, access to assistive devices and technology, and public programming that contributes to vibrant, equitable communities.
Around the country, volunteers are getting involved in the fight to defend public libraries. EveryLibrary is an organization advocating on behalf of libraries to access stable funding, as well as working with grassroots groups to defend libraries from book bans and political interference. Their website offers several opportunities for engagement and has an Action Platform where you can get involved in efforts to protect our public libraries. They also offer opportunities from signing pro-library petitions to volunteering or interning for EveryLibrary.
Of course, one of the best ways you can defend your local library is to get a library card, use the library, and get involved! You can become a library board member in your own community and play a role in decision making around its budget, programming, and staff. Read Book Riot’s “Why You Should Sit on Your Library Board” for more information.
Get Involved in Local Mask Blocs and Clean Air Organizing
When devastating wildfires began to raze communities in the Los Angeles area, local clean air organizers and organizing collectives like Mask Bloc LA and Clean Air LA jumped into action, providing high-quality masks and filtration systems to Angelenos. These organizing blocs were ready to immediately mobilize to hand out tens of thousands of masks and organize volunteers to distribute masks in impacted communities because they have been fighting to protect their communities from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Around the country, mask blocs and clean air advocacy organizations have been fighting for their communities, even as local, state, and federal governments have stopped distributing masks and COVID tests, dropped pandemic protections, and even advocated for mask bans that would criminalize the ability to protect ourselves and subject marginalized people to increased police scrutiny and potential violence. Over the past year, as wildfires and chemical plant explosions have poisoned the air around the country and world, and COVID-19 continues to endanger our health and safety, these clean air advocacy organizations and mask blocs have practiced radical community care.
There are a few ways you can get involved in this work:
Visit the COVID Action Map to find a mask bloc, advocacy organization, or clean air organization in your area.
Visit MaskBloc.org to find a mask bloc in your area.
If you’re a college student or academic, get involved with COVID Safe Campus, a nationwide organization which advocates to increase protection against COVID and fights for disability access on college campuses.
Know Your Rights as a Protester
Under the last Trump administration, disabled activists put their bodies on the line to protect the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, and now, we’re prepared to take up this fight again as President Trump has discussed cutting Medicaid. The disability community has a rich history of direct action and protest, from the 504 sit-ins to the Capitol Crawl. Disabled organizers have also demonstrated cross-movement solidarity, participating in protests against the genocide in Palestine and during 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
If you are considering getting involved in direct action and protest, it’s critical that you understand your rights. In 2024, The Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund collaborated with Disability Law United and The Civil Liberties Defense Center to create a guide to knowing your rights as a disabled protester. In this guide, you’ll learn how to prepare for protest, understand your rights, be prepared for police interactions, and access other resources to prepare yourself. Note: this guide is not a substitute for legal advice.