The erosion of DEI threatens rights of people with disabilities, too

Seattle Times | April 2025

U.S. Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Joseph L. Califano is helped onto a table to speak on April 5, 1977, at HEW in Washington, D.C. Demonstrators staged a historic sit-in for weeks at the office to demand enforcement of civil rights laws for people with disabilities. (AP Photo)

“One in five people reading this has a disability. Some try to avoid that label at all costs; for others, it provides a right to participation in the community and success at school and in the workforce. Now these rights, like so many others, are at risk.”

UW Professor at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering and CREATE Director, Jennifer ManKoff shares insights & advocacy ideas in her article.

ManKoff talks about how the rollback of DEI programs by the Trump Administration is creating an “orchestrated attack by conservatives to dismantle the rights of people with disabilities,” with a special focus on any DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) initiatives. By targetting any DEI and DEIA, disability inclusion efforts may now be called into question.

If these proposed changes become a reality, they will negateively afftect the rights of people with disabilities.

“Disability accommodations made it possible for me to become a professor and are vital to the success of many of my disabled students and colleagues.”