CW: Fraud & Institutionalization
Disabled people are being used as pawns in political battles around the world over budgets, bureaucracy, and the value placed on care. From Argentina to the United States to the United Kingdom, systems that once assured safety, dignity, and independence are being disrupted, scaled back, or dismantled. It may differ from country to country, but the trend is the same: disabled people tend to be among the first groups of people to experience cuts when the government tightens spending or intensifies scrutiny.
In Argentina, President Javier Milei’s sweeping austerity program has pushed disability services to the brink. Argentina has been a decades-long leader in therapeutic and educational services in South America. Unfortunately, with government payments frozen, centers are closing, employees are being laid off and families are struggling.
One person affected is 34-year-old Analía Celis. She was born with cerebral palsy and an intellectual disability. She once enjoyed sports, baking classes, and painting sessions, which offered her an opportunity to connect with others.
With the funding frozen, those programs are gone. Now, she spends her days in bed, regressing as her 74-year-old mother tries to care for her on her own. “She wakes up three or four times every night screaming that she wants to go to the farm,” said, Clementina Tabares, who now misses her own medical appointments because Celis requires 24/7 care. “She’s shutting herself away,” Tabares said. “That scares me.”
This erosion of support mirrors fears in the United States, in which the media and lawmakers have emphasized rising anxiety among disabled people and caregivers as the Trump administration intensifies scrutiny of home‑based care programs and cuts funding.
That scrutiny is growing around Medicaid, in part because it covers home and community‑based services and family caregivers who normally perform highly skilled work, such as wound care, medication management, and tube feedings. Federal authorities have also stepped up anti-fraud efforts. Mehmet Oz, who leads the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, has called for more scrutiny over hospice care, home health care organizations, and Medicaid-funded caregiving services.
Supporters say such oversight is needed. Critics say aggressive audits threaten to destabilize important services. In April, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. exacerbated these concerns when he said, “These are family members who are getting paid to do things that they used to do as family members for free,” and those comments provoked strong backlash from disability advocates who said they ignored the importance of caregiving.
The UK is facing its own crisis as well. Issac Wide, who lives in supportive housing in Bradley Stoke, says it can be hard to go to the bathroom at night. He was born with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and needs two caregivers to get him from his wheelchair to his bed to the toilet safely. Presently, his local council gives him one. What should be a routine task is beset by fear, stigma, and humiliation, which all compromise his dignity.
Others experience similar challenges. Last year, Ravi Mehta, who lives with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, went to the hospital for a routine ventilator adjustment, but he never left. Medically cleared, he was unable to return to his home because his 24‑hour care had disappeared.
And 33-year-old Lucinda Ritchie was sent to a nursing home against her will after nearly a year at the hospital. Her health worsened within days, and she was sent back to the hospital. She described the situation as being “akin to torture.”
Globally, and among different political parties, the message is the same: When support structures crumble, disabled people are left without safety, stability, and autonomy. The results are immediate, gut-wrenching, poignant, and human. They demonstrate how fragile dignity and independence can be when the systems that are supposed to help protect people begin to erode.
Sources:
Debre, Isabel. “Argentina’s Javier Milei Pushes Austerity Measures Affecting People With Disabilities.” AP News, 28 May 2026, https://apnews.com/article/argentina-javier-milei-trump-disabilities-austerity-6d98fb3cecc91fe4f3e3f8800826275e.
Gonzales, Morgan. “ANCOR Rebuts RFK Jr.’s Remarks on CDPAP, Home- and Community-Based Services.” Home Health Care News, WTWH Media, 15 Apr. 2026, https://homehealthcarenews.com/2026/04/ancor-rebuts-rfk-jr-s-remarks-on-cdpap-home-and-community-based-services/.
Hixenbaugh, Mike. “Families Caring for Disabled Relatives Face Unthinkable Choices as Medicaid Cuts Loom.” NBC News, 15 May 2026, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-medicaid-cuts-threaten-caregivers-disabled-family-members-rcna344930.
Holmes, Jonathan. “Lack of Toilet Overnight ‘Humiliates’ Disabled Man.” BBC News, 21 May 2026. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy82v8l02y8o
Witherington, Erica, and Nikki Fox. “Disabled Man ‘Rotting’ on a Hospital Ward – Despite Being Fit to Go Home.” BBC News, 19 May 2026, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2e2zvlyy38o.
Witherington, Erica. “Disabled Woman Put in Nursing Home Against Her Will Says She Feels ‘Betrayed.’” BBC News, 24 Feb. 2026, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czj1ndzz9xyo.