Disability In The News

After several months of scanning the news articles that come up daily on Google News using "disability" and "disabled" as topic filters, the overall impression I get is that at the moment, disability news coverage is about three things:

• Government-funded disability programs either going broke soon or grinding to a halt.
• People pretending to be disabled or otherwise stealing disability benefits or privileges.
• Inspiring local stories about individual people with disabilities overcoming adversity.

It's not about accessibility, employment opportunities, or ongoing, persistent institutionalization ... except for occasional coverage of the absolute worst examples of institutional abuse.