Mike Ervin is a writer and disability rights activist living in Chicago. He blogs at Smart Ass Cripple, “expressing pain through sarcasm since 2010.”
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Mike Ervin
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Smart Ass Cripple: Waiting 48 Years for a Subway Train
The subway station nearest my house is as inaccessible to me today as it was three decades ago. Read more
Smart Ass Cripple: Once More, Into the Vortex of Dread
A lot of disabled folks are branded with the scarlet letter U, for "Uninsurable," and the efforts to change that are in danger. Read more
Smart Ass Cripple: Save the Bison!
Trump is hell bent on undoing everything done by his predecessor, so it’s only a matter of time before the bison is no longer the official mammal of the United States. The question is, what will it be? Read more
Smart Ass Cripple: FDA Needs to Stop the Electric Shocking of People
Only one place uses these devices, and it uses them to control the behavior of people with autism and other disabilities. Read more
Mike & Mckenzie
Smart Ass Cripple: Getting in Santa’s Face to Sit in His Lap
I wouldn’t describe my childhood as Santa-deprived, because I was pushy. Read more
White House
How George H.W. Bush and Other Conservatives Undermined his Americans with Disabilities Act Legacy
Bush deserves credit for what he did to make the ADA happen. But federal civil rights laws are just empty symbolic gestures unless the executive branch vigorously enforces them and judges take them seriously. Read more
Ted Eytan/Creative Commons
Smart Ass Cripple: Getting In the Big Man’s Face
Not every public protest will entice change, but that doesn't mean our efforts are futile. Read more
WordRidden
Smart Ass Cripple: The Caregiver Cliché
The way we look at caregiving plays into propaganda that austerity vultures use to justify cutting social programs. Make mine a double. Read more
Claire VanValkenburg
Need Help? Uncle Donald Does Not Want You!
Now Trump will be able to say maybe he didn’t build that wall, but he did build a bureaucratic barbed wire fence that keeps out the lazy “public charges.” Read more
DoD photo
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Yikes!
I’m supposed to be writing about how hiring disabled people is the right thing to do and makes good business sense. But I’m not comfortable carrying that message. Read more
Smart Ass Cripple: ‘Don't Shoot Me, I'm _______!’
New communications cards are available to help police officers and deaf individuals communicate. Read more
Ed Dunens
HUD Does the Right Thing. What’s the Catch?
This is exactly the kind of valuable, constructive action HUD should be taking. So why were they doing it? Read more
Kavanaugh’s Callousness and Why it Matters
A 2007 decision completely disrespects people’s rights and their freedom of choice because of their disability. Read more
Smart Ass Cripple: Ah, for the Good Old Days!
Arbitration agreements with medical facilities are all the rage these days. We’ve probably all signed them, whether we know it or not. Read more
Smart Ass Cripple: Calling for a Straw Summit
I drink martinis through a straw—which isn’t easy. Read more
Max Pixel
The Other Refugee Crisis
“I’m searching in vain for an antonym for the word ‘refugee.’ I need that word to characterize people, myself included, who feel compelled to stay in their states.” Read more
Kenneth Lu
Waiting in Line 28 Years to See a Movie
The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law July 26, 1990. Today, some outfits still act like it doesn’t apply to them. Read more
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Gets Some Marijuana: A True Story
Local D.C. law says marijuana cannot be sold legally, but enterprising entrepreneurs have found another way. Read more
Brian Alberth
The Tyranny of Politeness
The proper time and place to protest, they say, is always the time and place where they feel they can most easily ignore us. When we show up at their churches, homes, and country clubs, we are no longer constrained by their rigged rules. Read more
