November 21, 2025
The Boost News
SPOTLIGHT: THE CDC’S NOD TO ORWELL
In another Trumpian “facts are not facts” move, one that has infuriated public health experts, the Centers for Disease Control’s website has adopted Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine views that childhood vaccines cause autism, “countering decades of science showing them to be safe.”
On Thursday, the website was changed to read that the claim “vaccines do not cause autism” is not evidence-based “because studies have not ruled out the possibility.”
(I honestly thought this wording would be gone by the time the newsletter went out given the PR mess it ignited, but no such luck.)
Confusingly, the header of the page still reads, “Vaccines do not cause autism,” though it comes with an asterisk explaining that “the header … has not been removed due to an agreement with the chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee [Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana] that it would remain on the CDC website.”
At least one other CDC page continues to say there was no link, reports The New York Times, as does a page on the website for the Food and Drug Administration, which Kennedy also oversees.
NPR reports that CDC scientists say they didn’t make the change, and the Department of Health and Human Services wouldn’t divulge who ordered the adjustment to the wording.
Let’s hope the facts make their way back to the website.
EDUCATION
Education Department breakup divides K-12 community (K-12 Dive)
Ed Department Sheds Several Offices, But Spares Special Education (Disability Scoop)
Special educators, disability advocates form united front to protect IDEA The 850-member coalition supports keeping special ed programming within the Education Department, saying moving it would put IDEA at risk. (K-12 Dive)
Fragmented Federal Education Plan Could Harm Students With Disabilities, Advocates Warn (EdWeek)
AAPD Opposes Unlawful Dismantling of the Department of Education (American Association of People with Disabilities)
STATE NEWS
In NY, outcry after death of disability rights leader Jensen Caraballo Friends say he was not getting the care he needed through the state’s broken Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP). (USA Today)
Advocates for disabled rally for increased funding in Albany (Daily Sentinel)
Pa.’s independent home care workers get pay raise in state budget but agencies miss out The pay raise is only $15 from $13.51. (Trib Live)
State of New Mexico will soon offer funding for kinship caregivers through pilot program (KRQE)
Arizona disability service policies revised, but confusion and fear remains as cuts loom (Arizona Mirror)
Tennessee Voucher School Policies Often Exclude LGBTQ+ Students, Those with Disabilities (Nashville Banner)
Parents, advocates in Colorado warn of dire consequences from proposed budget cuts to ABA therapy (CPR)
Iowa Workforce Development overhaul sparks concerns about disability employment program (The Gazette)
Special education reimbursement in Wisconsin drops below rate promised in state budget (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
AUTISM
Autistic youth are more likely to think about and die from suicide. What parents need to know (LA Times)
HEALTHCARE
Medicaid Insurers Promise Lots of Doctors. Good Luck Seeing One. (Wall Street Journal)
Report: Cancer diagnoses delayed for disabled people (BBC) FYI, the U.K. study is in line with U.S. research from 2022, published by the National Library of Medicine, which shows that “a slowly growing body of research suggests that people with some types of preexisting disabilities have significantly higher rates of some types of cancer than people without those disabilities.”
NEUROLOGY
As funding falters, young brain scientists rethink careers in research This “could hobble the nation’s efforts to understand and treat brain disorders including Alzheimer’s, autism, Parkinson’s and schizophrenia.” (NPR)
INSTITUTIONS
He Died at a School for Disabled People. Decades Later, His Brother Sought Answers. (NYT)
CLIMATE JUSTICE
Disability Activists Seek Official Recognition at COP30 (Earth.org)
EMPLOYMENT
Food trucks are training tool for people with developmental disabilities (Dayton Daily News)
TRAVEL
Yes, Traveling Europe With a Child With Disabilities Is Possible—Here’s What Helped Us Most (Parents)
TECHNOLOGY
Apple’s New iPhone Grip and Stand Puts Accessibility at the Forefront (CNET)