What's New and Updated at The Shining Lamp?

In early December, coinciding with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, more than 300 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and executive suite (C-suite) leaders from over 25 countries convened in Tokyo for SYNC25, described as “the world’s first accountability summit” focused specifically on disability inclusion in business. The article reports a deliberate shift away from broad pledges and toward measurable action, with commitments put to the test. Problems identified include inaccessible hiring processes, slow and bureaucratic workplace adjustments, lack of reliable disability…

Self-care is foundational to participation, independence and long-term sustainability at work and in school, particularly in environments that still carry unspoken expectations around appearance, presentation and productivity. Societal expectations set uniform appearance standards. Sarah Todd Hammer emphasizes access over novelty, naming concrete options: accessible makeup from Tilt Beauty (ease of use certified by The Arthritis Foundation (AF)), Kizik shoes that are put on and taken off completely hands-free, and the Flaus electric flosser whose vibrations move the floss side-to-side to…

National Indigenous Times reports that The Deadlys—Deadly First Nations Shout Out—have released “Being Deadly,” a documentary centering First Nations people with intellectual disabilities and acquired brain injury; members insist they must “be seen, be heard,” and to “stand up and speak up for Disability and Culture,” asserting cultural pride and leadership against exclusion. The piece names structural harm: Aunty Jane Rosengrave describes being “locked up” from six months old to 21 and says this still happens to kids today; the group also addresses “racism and discrimination,” forced…

Across generations, the through-line is structural: wheelchair users are still navigating spaces designed without wheelchair users in mind. Alice Moira’s childhood chair was wooden and unpushable, and later wooden push-rims left her hands full of splinters; Lochlann O’Higgins still reaches stations with no lift despite modern trip-planning tools. This isn’t about “resilience”—it’s about rights: fix the infrastructure so people aren’t stranded or hurt by designs that exclude People with Disabilities. Housing multiplies the harm. Moira recalls tenants with disabilities effectively trapped in…

Fifty years of progress for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) “may be at risk.” The first danger named is a proposed move of the Office of Special Education from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which speakers say “would change the goal which is education access to a medical model” and “sends the message our students are ill and need to be cured instead of educated fairly.” The article details pressure to separate children from classmates. A proposal to study “centralizing” special education in “one or a few…

Apple’s iOS (iPhone Operating System) 26 introduces Braille Access, built for Blind People and available beside any app. The article says it plainly: “Braille is the key to literacy and to opportunity.” Apple invests in Braille as literacy and rejects the pattern that left Blind People stuck with outdated notetakers. Braille is the key to literacy and to opportunity. Education is central. Apple positions an iPad as a full notetaker that teachers already know. “Braille Notes” records dots instantly and syncs in iCloud. “BRF files” (Braille Ready Format) open fast, edit via the dot-7 Context…

David Parker profiles Darby Lee Young and Level Playing Field (LPF), tracing how a one-person consultancy “doing audits around Calgary” became “a team working across Canada and into the United States (U.S.).” The work is rooted in Young’s lived exclusion—“born with mild cerebral palsy and needing an electric scooter to get around,” unable to find “a place where she could meet with friends,” which was “frustrating and isolating.” LPF exists to remove barriers so People with Disabilities are not shut out of everyday life. Parker shows Young converting service into public accountability: she…

Every year on December 3, the world marks the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), established by the United Nations in 1992 to strengthen commitment to rights, dignity, and participation. This year’s theme—“Fostering disability-inclusive societies for advancing social progress”—frames the piece around a simple idea: social progress depends on removing barriers so participation is real, not rhetorical. The article sets out what is preventing equitable participation in the U.S. and globally: disproportionate poverty, exclusion from decent work, and protection systems not…

Stephen Hawking’s speech computer brought computer-generated voices to global attention; this article describes a system that goes further by showing a lifelike on-screen version of the person speaking in their own voice. A wheelchair-mounted setup uses two displays: a control screen in front and a second screen above the chair that shows the speaking avatar with natural expressions, tone, and inflection. The software is trained on each person’s personality and experiences, including prior messages and chats, so suggestions align with how they communicate. During conversation, a microphone…

The article gathers a holiday selection of children’s books that treat disability as part of ordinary family, school, and community life. It opens by noting that the list is educator-curated for representation and lays out why these choices matter in practice: they situate disability within daily routines rather than as a detour, offer readers language that is age-appropriate and concrete, and make it straightforward for adults to pick read-alouds and gifts by grade band without segregating who the books are “for.” The piece also underscores that the aim is durable beyond the season—these…

Friends and collaborators remember Alice Wong and say they will keep fighting for disability justice; the story recounts organizing rooted in mentorship, public storytelling, and steady relationships among people with disabilities, including Brittanie Hernandez-Wilson reflecting at Lake Merritt on grief, love, and resolve to carry the work forward. The reporting includes the subhead “Centering the most marginalized” and names ableism as an everyday barrier; friends describe barriers in clinics, programs, and public spaces, and emphasize participation by people with disabilities as the point…

Berkeleyside’s books column leads with Scot Danforth’s first full biography of a Berkeley organizer whose work helped define disability rights: An Independent Man: Ed Roberts and the Fight for Disability Rights. The piece situates Roberts’ leadership in campus and city history and names his role in building what became widely known as the independent living movement. Danforth traces how a small cohort of UC Berkeley students—often called the Rolling Quads—built services run by and for people with disabilities, pressed university and state officials, and formed coalitions. The column…

The article opens with the line “At Apple, accessibility is a core value,” and describes Apple marking the International Day of Persons with Disabilities by releasing a short film that presents accessibility as part of everyday life rather than something exceptional. The 170-second film, directed by Kim Gehrig, follows a diverse group of students in ordinary campus scenes while the song “I’m Not Remarkable” rejects inspiration porn; people with disabilities are present as part of the group, not as a spectacle. Accessibility features are shown in routine use—VoiceOver and Braille Screen Input…

Scotland’s Parliament heard renewed criticism of transport provision for people with disabilities after Members of the Scottish Parliament raised concerns that too few accessible taxis are available. The debate, held on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, highlighted mobility barriers that persist despite longstanding commitments to provide access. Speakers described long waits routinely faced by people who use wheelchairs when trying to book accessible taxis. A Member told the chamber that people with disabilities are forced to wait excessive periods because the supply of…

Edwardsville’s NAACP will host a public disability information fair on Dec. 13 at the Edwardsville Public Library, connecting neighbors with local resources and wellness providers while encouraging everyone to help remove each Community Access Barrier that keeps People with Disabilities from fully participating in civic life. Timed to December’s observance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the fair emphasizes inclusion grounded in The Social Model of Disability—the idea that many limits come from fixable barriers in our environments, not from people themselves. Organizers…

For fifty years, the U.S. moved from warehousing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities toward community life, but cracks are widening again as supports stall and expectations are lowered; confronting systemic ableism in how services are designed and managed is part of moving forward. Community living rises or falls with the people who make it possible: direct support professionals, educators, and clinicians; rebuilding and respecting this workforce with training, pay, and a real career path is a practical step to advance disability inclusion so individuals can live, learn…

Alice Wong died in San Francisco on Nov. 14 at age 51. The remembrance opens with her pairing of anger and love—quoting her final message to the community—and follows how readers recognized their own rage during COVID disruptions and chronic pain. Staying with Wong’s words (“I feel very alone w/ so much rage”), the piece treats anger as truthful and connective, a force that moves people out of isolation and toward collective care. The essay then grounds that feeling in her life story: born in 1974 in Indianapolis to Hong Kong immigrants; an early diagnosis with a form of muscular dystrophy…

The article reports a clear finding: a new study by the disability-inclusion nonprofit Matan — released on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities — shows that Jewish organizations are **lagging behind** secular ones on access. The study calls the gap “very solvable,” yet warns that failure to act continues to push people out of community life. Based on surveys, interviews and focus groups across 15 U.S. communities from 2018–2025, the study found that in each community 20–25% of people identified as having a disability, but supports in Jewish settings are thin. Less than one-third…

Rosa Parks’ refusal didn’t just spark a boycott — it modeled rights-based advocacy that treats transit access as a question of power and policy, not charity. Her example offered later organizers a practical playbook: identify the barrier, confront the rule, and insist that public systems serve the whole public. By the 1980s, the disability rights movement had policy wins and new visibility, yet many riders were still shut out of buses by steps, narrow doors, and segregating paratransit. True accessibility meant boarding the same vehicles, on the same routes, with the same schedules — not…