Mike Ervin

Mike Ervin is a Chicago-based writer and a disability-rights activist with ADAPT (www.adapt.org). He can be reached at prmproj@progressive.org.

Articles by this author

Sorry it's not convenient for you: Mike Ervin (l) and other activists outside Speaker Ryan’s parish church in Janesville, Wisconsin to protest Republican attacks on the Affordable Care Act, January, 2017. Views
Monday, July 02, 2018
The Tyranny of Politeness
On a Saturday evening in 2017, just before the Inauguration, I gathered with about forty other protesters outside the Catholic church that Paul Ryan attends in Janesville, Wisconsin. We quietly passed out flyers as parishioners filed in for mass. The flyers noted that Ryan was championing drastic...
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Frank Stephens testifying before a House Appropriations Subcommittee in 2017. (Photo: Screenshot) Views
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Everybody Loves Frank—When it's Convenient
Everybody gushed over Frank Stephens. Not that he didn’t deserve it. Stephens has Down Syndrome. Last fall, he testified before a House Appropriations Subcommittee. Here’s some of what he said: “No one knows more about living with Down Syndrome than I do. Whatever you learn today please remember...
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Saturday, April 13, 2013
Obama’s Proposal Hurts People with Disabilities
In his budget proposal, President Obama is betraying the poorest Americans with disabilities. By supporting the so-called chained CPI, which alters the way the consumer price index is calculated, Obama would increase the cost of living for people who rely on Social Security and other government programs. It leaves those who have the least with even less.
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
Why the Payroll Tax Deal Is Bad for People With Disabilities
Hold the applause: Extending the payroll tax cuts is a bad deal for nearly 9 million disabled Americans who rely on Social Security Disability Insurance for survival.
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Monday, June 22, 2009
10th Anniversary of Freedom for People with Disabilities
June 22 marks the 10th anniversary of a landmark ruling for people with disabilities. The case, which reinforced the Americans with Disabilities Act, was called Olmstead v. LC and EW. LC was Lois Curtis and EW was Elaine Wilson. These two women had spent most of their lives in state mental institutions. They wanted to live in more integrated community settings, and their doctors said they didn?t need to be institutionalized. But their home state of Georgia provided no community options for them, and so they languished in the institutions.
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Friday, February 20, 2009
Jerry Lewis Doesn’t Deserve a Humanitarian Award at the Oscars
The Oscars are about to insult people with disabilities. At the Academy Awards ceremony Feb. 22, the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will present its Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Jerry Lewis. Lewis is notorious for making disparaging remarks about others, particularly gay people and women. But he has said equally degrading things about people with disabilities.
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