{"id":108773,"date":"2025-05-12T14:49:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T18:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/?post_type=insight&#038;p=108773"},"modified":"2025-05-12T14:49:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T18:49:21","slug":"op-ed-doge-disability-rights-three-key-tech-policy-concerns","status":"publish","type":"insight","link":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/insights\/op-ed-doge-disability-rights-three-key-tech-policy-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-Ed &#8211; DOGE &amp; Disability Rights: Three Key Tech Policy Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>This op-ed \u2013 authored by CDT\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cdt.org\/staff\/ariana-aboulafia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ariana Aboulafia<\/a>\u00a0 \u2013 first appeared in Tech Policy Press on May 12, 202<\/em>5.\u00a0<em>A portion of the text has been pasted below.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three months into the Trump administration, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.techpolicy.press\/100-days-of-doge-assessing-its-use-of-data-and-ai-to-reshape-government\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wreaked havoc<\/a>&nbsp;on the United States federal government and on many individuals who rely on government services. This includes people with disabilities, who have been impacted by cuts to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/04\/14\/nx-s1-5345870\/trump-doge-students-disabilities\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">education programs<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/article\/cuts-to-the-social-security-administration-threaten-millions-of-americans-retirement-and-disability-benefits\/#:~:text=Even%20without%20payment%20delays%2C%20disabled,on%20those%20seeking%20disability%20benefits.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">chaos at the Social Security Administration<\/a>&nbsp;(SSA), the shuttering of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/fedscoop.com\/gsa-shutters-18f-possibly-leaving-agencies-in-the-lurch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">digital services programs<\/a>&nbsp;that focused on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/18f.org\/topics\/accessibility\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">accessibility<\/a>, and even mandatory&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nod.org\/how-return-to-office-mandates-could-affect-workers-with-disabilities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">return-to-office<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/11\/24\/politics\/federal-workers-remote-telecommute-doge\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">policies for federal workers,<\/a>&nbsp;among other things. Despite the announcement that Elon Musk will soon be \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/04\/22\/elon-musk-doge-tesla-earnings-call\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stepping back<\/a>\u201d from his role at DOGE, there\u2019s no indication that the agency will stop its crusade, regardless of the costs to everyday people. And, it will continue to use technology to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I currently lead one of the only projects in the US that focuses on how technology (such as AI tools and algorithmic systems) impacts people with disabilities. From my vantage, it is clear that DOGE\u2019s underlying ableist rhetoric both informs and forecasts its work, while its violations of data privacy and expansive use of AI without proper oversight have already harmed disabled people, and will continue to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techpolicy.press\/doge-disability-rights-three-key-tech-policy-concerns\/\">Read the full text.<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","content_type":[7251],"area-of-focus":[10207,78],"class_list":["post-108773","insight","type-insight","status-publish","hentry","content_type-blog","area-of-focus-disability-rights","area-of-focus-privacy-data"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight\/108773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/insight"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight\/108773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108774,"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insight\/108773\/revisions\/108774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=108773"},{"taxonomy":"area-of-focus","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cdt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/area-of-focus?post=108773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}