Journalist – Historian – Speaker
In case you missed it, the correlation between mental illness and violence towards others is not in evidence. The belief that the mentally ill are more likely to take part in a mass shooting appears to be a misleading. There were 198,760 homicides committed by a firearm in the United States between 1999 and 2015, …
My home-away-from-home community of Minneapolis-St. Paul just learned that the police officers who killed Jamar Clark will not be charged. This case has become a focal point for Black Lives Matter in the Twin Cities. There’s another case though, that is getting both legislative and media attention: John Birkeland. He was killed during a mental …
Today, President Obama is announcing new executive actions on gun violence. I am a proponent of sensible gun control solutions. I do not believe we can arm ourselves to safety. I am, however, always concerned when discussions around gun control stigmatize people with various types of disabilities as dangerous, so I was glad to see …
I wrote a piece for Pacific Standard that many people seem to have read (it was their most popular story on the site for 5 days or so. I gather that must mean something) on the systematic abuse of disabled children by teachers and other staff in schools and institutions across America. In the piece, …
Here’s a disturbing and complex manifestation of the cult of compliance: Starting next week, San Francisco will be the fifth county in the state to implement Laura’s Law, the measure that allows judges to force severely mentally ill people to get treatment.The measure is targeted toward people who are resisting care and have a history …
Disability continues to be a largely ignored issue in the presidential primaries except for when it comes to gun violence, when the candidates get things entirely wrong. Here’s 100% of what Sanders or Clinton (the only candidates that actually might get nominated) said about disability last night. SANDERS: Let’s begin, Anderson, by understanding that Bernie …