Let me tell you something that 2025 taught me the hard way: silence is the luxury of people whose lives aren’t on the line. For those of us living with disabilities, silence is a risk we can’t afford. And now, as we move into 2026, the message couldn’t be clearer — buckle up, speak up, and show up, because our future depends on it.
2025 Didn’t Just Test Us — It Targeted Us
Let’s not pretend last year was business as usual. Policy shifts tied to Project 2025 came after the programs that keep many of us alive. Medicaid wasn’t just debated — it was treated like a negotiable expense. The Administration for Community Living wasn’t reviewed — it was nearly gutted. ADA guidance wasn’t updated — it was pulled, quietly but intentionally.
When you live this life, these decisions are not abstract. They are intimate.
This past year, I had a moment — one many disabled people know too well — when a service delay meant I wasn’t sure if I’d receive a needed repair for my mobility equipment. That “delay” wasn’t a scheduling inconvenience. It was a reminder that my independence is tethered to systems some policymakers seem determined to shrink, scatter, or defund.
Multiply that by millions of people — and you understand exactly what 2025 felt like for our community.
These Policies Hit Some of Us the Hardest
And let’s be real: these cuts never land evenly.
Disabled Black, Brown, LGBTQ+, and low-income communities felt the strain first and hardest. If you’ve ever had to fight for one more PCA (Personal Care Assistant) hour, one more accommodation, or one more appeal — you already know how fragile “access” becomes when people in power stop believing in your humanity. So, when policymakers pull ADA guidance, or try to cap Medicaid, or restructure disability agencies into oblivion, they aren’t just moving lines on a. budget. They are reshaping whose lives are worth sustaining.
But Here’s the Good News — We Fought Back
In the middle of all this, our community didn’t stay quiet.
More than 450 disability organizations mobilized against the attack on the Administration for Community Living (ACL). National leaders like the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, Association of University Centers on Disabilities, the American Association of People with Disabilities, National Federation of the Blind, and dozens of state-based advocates filed lawsuits, organized coalitions, and pushed back against Social Security staffing cuts and Medicaid threats. Access Living’s “We See You” campaign captured the heartbeat of the moment — a message to policymakers who underestimated our collective strength.
Our advocacy wasn’t polite.
It wasn’t timid.
It wasn’t optional.
It was survival.
2026 Is Not the Year to Whisper — This Is the Year to Roar
And now we step into 2026, and I need you to hear me clearly:
Your voice is not only important — it is protective. It is power. It is your duty for self-preservation.
There is no more time to contemplate whether participating in democracy is worth it.
No more hesitating about whether advocacy “makes a difference.”
No more assuming someone else will fight for what you rely on.
Use your voice, your vote, your story — or lose the protections built on generations of struggle.
Narratives that have harmed our community were written by people who never lived our reality. People who never needed home care to get dressed. People who never had to appeal for basic services.
People who debate our lives like policy experiments.
Those days are over — if we decide they’re over.
So, What Do We Do Now?
- Tell your story everywhere it counts.
Human stories make policymakers pause. Share yours — loudly and often. - Protect the disability networks that protect us.
ACL (Administration for Community Living), Centers for Independent Living, Medicaid programs, civil-rights offices — these are not optional structures. They are the backbone of community living. - Support the legal fights.
Lawsuits are halting harmful rollouts and buying us time. Back the organizations doing this work. - Vote like your life depends on it — because it does.
And help others do the same. Registration. Transportation. Information. Whatever it takes. - Reject the silence expected of us.
When we speak, systems shift. When we organize, policies change. When we vote, outcomes transform.
We’ve Survived Too Much to Start Surrendering Now
We enter 2026 wiser, tougher, and more united than we were a year ago. This is not the time to shrink. This is the moment to lead.
We have seen what happens when others speak for us.
Now it’s time for them to hear us — clearly, collectively, and unapologetically.
2026 is not the year to whisper.
This is the year to roar.
Marcus Johnson is co-leader of the Civics League for Disability Rights (CLDR), an independent, volunteer-led group of New Yorkers with disabilities who advocate for themselves, their community, and for systemic change in healthcare for people with physical disabilities. To learn more, email civicsleague@gmail.com.
Opinions expressed are solely those of the writer(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Able News at The Viscardi Center and/or The Viscardi Center.