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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-01-25 Correspondence- Disability Rights Montana - Beyond Eugenics_ Building a Culture Where Disability BelongsFrom:Disability Rights Montana - Growth Rings To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL]Beyond Eugenics: Building a Culture Where Disability Belongs Date:Monday, December 1, 2025 7:02:25 AM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Every paid subscription supports Disability Rights Montana’s work across Montana. Federal funding is nowhere near sufficient to meet the advocacy and culture change work that is needed. You can help fund the future you want to see! Beyond Eugenics: Building a CultureWhere Disability Belongs Reject fear. Embrace variation. Advocate for a Montana that lovesdisability. READ IN APP What if I told you eugenics didn’t die with Nazi Germany? It’s still here. It’s quiet, subtle, and woven into everyday decisions. It’s in policies that deny life-saving care to disabled people. It’s in prenatal testing marketed as “preventing suffering.” It’s in budget cuts that see accessibility as optional instead of essential. DEC 1 Eugenics vs. Empowerment: Why Disability AdvocacyMatters Now Eugenics isn’t history. It’s now. And it’s exhausting. Eugenics is the belief that society should control who gets to exist based on arbitrary ideas of “fitness.” It imagines one “ideal” way to be human, built on rigid, manmade criteria, and seeks to erase difference. Systems and people with eugenic motivations may give lip service to tolerating difference, but you can see it when budgets are tight and people are tired - the further you are from the ideal, the further you are from getting what you need from those systems and people. Historically, eugenics borrowed from animal breeding: just as farmers tried to create the “perfect bull,” eugenicists tried to engineer the “perfect person.” That worldview didn’t vanish after World War II. It simply adapted. Today, it shows up in: Healthcare rationing: During COVID-19, many states tried to use “quality of life” scores to decide who received treatment like hospital beds, ventilators, and surgeries. The idea of quality of life or quality life years devalues disabled patients. Today, Montana’s Attorney General is suing to eliminate federal regulations written after COVID that banned the use of quality life years in allocating scarce health care resources. Prenatal screening marketed as prevention: Tests for Down Syndrome are often framed as a way to “avoid” having a disabled child and some parts of the world are predicting the complete elimination of people with Down Syndrome in the years to come. Institutional bias in policy: Medicaid has always classified home and community based care services as option for states while funding segregated facilities which reinforce the idea that disabled lives are less valuable and necessary in our communities. As nearly a trillion dollars is cut form Medicaid over the next ten years, state government will have to decide where they put their limited resources. The disability community is watching how decision What Is Eugenics, Really? makers value their inclusion in our communities. This isn’t fringe. It’s mainstream. And looking to eugenic impulses to promote the idea of a “perfect person” when making these and other tough decisions is wrong. To reject eugenics, you must truly believe that disability is not a flaw to erase. It is, instead, a natural part of the human experience. A variation as old as life itself. Disability culture embraces this truth. We value adaptation, creativity, and resilience. We reject the corrosive idea that there’s a “good” way to be born and a “bad” way to be born. Acceptance isn’t just practical, it’s liberating. It’s empowering. It’s love. And love, as the greatest thinkers and artists have taught us, is the highest human aspiration. Disability Rights Montana works every day to create a society where people with disabilities have equal opportunities and full participation in community life. Where choice and self-determination aren’t privileges, they’re rights. A society built on acceptance and adaptation, not fear and exclusion. A society where disability is loved. Say it with me: “Disability is natural. Disability is good. Disability belongs.” Anything less is eugenics. Rejecting eugenics isn’t enough. We need to champion better ideas and better The Alternative: Acceptance and Adaptation The Vision We’re Building Here’s How You Can Help Build That Future policies. That means advocating for laws and budgets that protect and empower people with disabilities. You can donate to Disability Rights Montana to support our advocacy. Donate to DRMT This is a really important way for you to create the community you want to live in. The feds back in D.C. are having a hard time coming up with a coherent plan for how they want to invest in the future. But here on the ground, we can support each other to get where we want to go. I appreciate your support of our work to make our shared vision a reality. Every dollar we receive helps us advocate. You can also join The Collective Disruption, a coalition of disabled individuals and organizations like Disability Rights Montana, Summit Independent Living, Ability Montana, North Central Independent Living Services, and the Montana Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind. Join The Collective Disruption As a member, you’ll gain access to a network that helps you: Learn public policy advocacy skills: Understand how laws are made, budgets are set, and voices are heard. Join local or national disability rights organizations: Groups like Disability Rights Montana offer training and action opportunities. Speak up in your community: Whether it’s at school boards, city councils, or online forums, your voice matters. Support inclusive budgets: Push for funding that prioritizes accessibility, healthcare, and independent living. Culture change isn’t done in grand gestures—it’s built by everyday actions. Every ripple becomes a wave. Every wave becomes a tsunami. Make today the day you act with intention. Take the single impactful step: Join The Collective Disruption. Join The Collective Disruption When you stand up for disability rights, you’re not just changing policies, you’re changing culture and you’re changing lives. You’re saying to every child born with a difference, every adult navigating a world that wasn’t built for them: You belong. You matter. You are loved. That message ripples outward, reshaping communities and rewriting the story of what it means to be human. This isn’t abstract. It’s real. And it starts with you. Montana needs your voice, your courage, your choice to act today. Join us, and let’s build a Montana where love and justice drown out fear and exclusion. Love, David David Carlson, J.D. Executive Director Disability Rights Montana Upgrade to paid Share You’re currently a free subscriber to Life Beyond Compliance. Upgrading to paid subscriptions supports Disability Rights Montana’s work across Montana. Federal funding is no where near sufficient to meet the advocacy and culture change work that is needed. You can help fund the future you want to see! Upgrade to paid LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2025 Disability Rights Montana1022 Chestnut Street, Helena, MT 59601 Unsubscribe