Julia Métraux

Got a press release via email on this right before giving a presentation on disability reporting but at least my presentation went well.

Aww ty

New York is investigating the death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam AG Letitia James will head an "independent assessment" of what happened to the Blind Rohingya refugee who Border Patrol dumped in Buffalo.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating the death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Blind Rohingya refugee who died in the cold streets of Buffalo days after Border Patrol dumped him without coordinating with his family or lawyers.

You're not wrong

I also received a press release for this which tbh....is a little insulting to read as someone doing this work.

Thank you!

My post here definitely represents my own thoughts and not those of my employee. But, think I've done a pretty good job building up a disability news section at a major news publication.

HuffPost Launches “Voices Of Disabled People” As The First National News Section Devoted Entirely To Disability Coverage

🤔

www.motherjones.com/topics/disab...

I wonder how it compares to Tim Hortons. Both taste the same to me. I will hate read this after a meeting (say with love, ha)

I'm also Canadian and as I said, some Canadians love to say "at least it's not as bad as the US" when downplaying problems there.

Some other points:
1. Disabled people of color are disproportionately impacted bc of profiling.
2. Like all countries in the Global North have immigration policies that discriminate against disabled people.

As I said in the interview (my part starts around 13:50), disabled and chronically ill people have been mistreated under ICE since before this Trump administration. There's an escalation for sure, but the problem was already there.

When Fear Crosses the Border: Deportation Protests and the Illusion of Safety in Canada Podcast Episode · Reflections · March 5 · 28m

I was interviewed about how disabled people are impacted by ICE and other immigration policies by a Canadian news podcast. You can listen here. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

Immigrant whose skull was broken in 8 places during ICE arrest says beating was unprovoked Alberto Castañeda Mondragón was hospitalized with eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages. Officers claimed he ran into a wall, but medical staff doubted that account.

www.npr.org/2026/02/07/g...

I do think there is a level of irony of someone who pushes for TBI research likely set to lead a Department connected to (allegedly) giving some migrants TBIs and treating people with head injuries badly.

Anchorage Daily News staff becomes the first newsroom in Alaska to unionize and win a union contract | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA Unionized Journalists at the Anchorage Daily news have ratified a 2 year first contract, marking the first union contract at an Alaska news publication.

NEW: Anchorage Daily News staff becomes the first newsroom in Alaska to unionize and win a union contract!

Congratulations to the @pacnwguild.bsky.social for this historic win ✊

newsguild.org/anchorage-da...

Bonne idée!

Other random fact is that I'm two degrees of seperation from Mao Zedong through two white people (my Swiss dad's neighbor when he was a teen was Edgar Snow)

Je suis une citoyenne de Canada et de Suisse aussi.

I have unfortunately gotten rusty but I do Duolingo everyday lol.

To brag, I was the only from American high school first year in my 400 level French language course at McGill and took graduate level French classes at Middlebury Language Schools at 19. People think you speak a language was a good motivator to be good.

I only started learning French in middle school. Et Je m'appelle Julia Stéphanie Métraux.

I know Grammarly has been using more predictive type features which are icky in their premium version. Which is why Grammarly commerials always annoys me. Their basic features are so helpful to me.

The Sitcom (about a Disabled Muslim Woman) that Could Have Been Comedian Maysoon Zayid had a deal to develop a sitcom for ABC. The deal made headlines, but the show never aired. She tells all about the bigotry behind the scenes.

NEW ARTICLE: Comedian Maysoon Zayid had a deal with ABC to produce a TV sitcom inspired by her life, as a Muslim woman with cerebral palsy.

Why was that show never released? Maysoon gives me the inside story. (Hint: bigotry)

justinebarron.substack.com/p/the-sitcom...

As someone who has health issues that impact my cognition, proofreading from Grammarly helps me do my job. This nonsense frustrates me so much as it is very much an accessibility tool.

Canine carer: how guide dog school dropout Marcus came to comfort cancer patients for a living Once assessed as ‘a sloth with a low drive to work’, the polite and affectionate black labrador enjoys a successful new career as a therapy dog

"He’s sensitive and food-motivated; if given the choice between a distressed person and a tasty treat, he might have a hard time picking."

This is my favorite story of the day.

For a story in @thesicktimes.org, seeking organizers in any left movement work who’ve taken a break or fully stepped away from organizing sometime since 2020 due to Long COVID. They can be anonymous in the piece and may reach out directly at longdefeat.08 on Signal #LongCOVID #NEISvoid

Like, I don't believe in disability hierarchies, including who the government deems as disabled, but this is a major headscratcher.

The deceptive phrase behind Trump's Medicaid purge How the idea of “able-bodied” is abused

Mention of that is in this piece of mine www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

I also learned from interviewing @edwincpark.bsky.social that there's no guarantee that people who get Medicaid through SSI will be exempt from work requirements either. Like, these are people who have gone through a lot of paperwork for the government to see them as disabled enough.