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Sara Luterman

@slooterman.bsky.social
18K followers 2.8K following 899 posts

Disabled disability and aging reporter at The 19th. Opinions are my own. Follows are not endorsements. Signal: slooterman.18 Email: sluterman at 19thnews dot org

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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The only thing I’m going to say about the lesbian mask bar story is that the kind of person depicted in it is really marginal in most real life disability advocacy and support spaces, even if they don’t act like it online.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
‏גמר חתימה טובה
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the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
No we don’t have any presents. Or what was it you said? “Gifts”? No we don’t have those, why would you think that. Why are you being weird
Photograph of an airport store called “Gaslight Gifts”
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I haven’t been on/writing much lately because our childcare fell through for the past couple weeks. I am so grateful to work somewhere where that doesn’t mean I lose my job.
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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
For @motherjones.com, I looked into how Meta could be using disabled people to promote its Meta glasses to the masses. As one expert told me, “companies have used accessibility...as a Trojan horse for a tool that poses significant privacy and security threats.” www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Is Meta using disabled people to promote its glasses?
AI glasses are a double-edged sword for disabled people, who face unique risks from surveillance.
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Shefali Luthra @shefali.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Big news: The family of Tierra Walker, who died after she couldn't get an abortion, is suing a slate of Texas actors in state court, including AG Ken Paxton. They say the state ban is unconstitutional. This is the first suit of its kind. 19thnews.org/2026/09/texa...
19thnews.org
Tierra Walker died after she couldn’t get an abortion. Her family is suing Ken Paxton
The case, filed Tuesday, argues that Texas’ near-total abortion ban violates the state and U.S. Constitutions, which “prohibit state actors from killing their citizens.”
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Sandy Ernest Allen @sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Can't believe it was 12 years ago that I edited and we published this one ... which is a very good essay and I believe worth revisiting www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stev...
buzzfeednews.com
The Worst Day Of My Life Is Now New York’s Hottest Tourist Attraction
Nearly 13 years after my sister’s death, a reluctant Sunday visit to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, where public spectacle and private grief have a permanent home together.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Some of my neighbors are decorating their houses for the 9/11 anniversary and that seems kind of weird to me?
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dan solomon @dansolomon.com · 09/09/2026
i'm fucking exhausted
an email from the texas democratic party's press office that reads "Despite Plenty of Hot Air, Gov. Hot Wheels Has a Flat."
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Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
A couple updates: Sanofi (Novavax) has begun shipping, and Walgreens will stop requiring prescriptions in Oregon after state officials took action. (I haven't heard back from CVS yet, but very possible they will do the same.) My article will be updated soon with this information.
nytimes.com
New Covid Vaccines Are Available. Here’s How to Get One. (Gift Article)
The shots have been approved for people 65 and older, and for younger people with underlying conditions. Others may be able to get them off label.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I’m a parent and I think this is a bad call on the part of Maryland Renn Fest.
dc.citycast.fm
The Maryland Renaissance Festival Has Banned Furries This Year · City Cast DC
The costumes make people uncomfortable, organizers say. Furries call it discrimination.
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19thnews @19thnews.org · 02/09/2026
If signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the law would make it illegal for anyone younger than 18 to get married as of January 1, 2027.
19thnews.org
California could soon end child marriage after years of debate
Before the new ban passed, California didn't even have a minimum age for marriage — unlike most other states.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 31/08/2026
Maicy was 16 when she died. She’d suffered from many ailments: stomach irritation, severe anemia, a blocked artery, thinning hair and more. All of it was treatable. But her parents believed in faith healing, not medicine.
propublica.org
These Children’s Deaths Were Preventable. Their Parents Prayed Instead of Seeking Medical Care.
For decades, Idaho laws have allowed parents who belong to the Followers of Christ and other faith-healing sects to pray rather than seek medical care. Since 2015, at least 15 children have died of tr...
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Thinking Person's Guide to Autism @thinkingautism.com · 31/08/2026
We lost Steve Silberman on this day, 2 years ago. His death hit our entire community hard, because Steve showed autistic people as fully formed humans with rights and delights and happiness and love, with people who loved them, and whom they loved right back. thinkingautismguide.com/2026/01/abou...
tinyurl.com
About That Mensch, Steve Silberman, and How Much We Miss Him — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM
Steve Silberman was such a well of bottomless compassion. I still can't believe he's gone. And I'm so sorry.
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Rose Broderick @rosebroderick.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
It's feeling more like 2006 than 2026. Yesterday's meeting of the federal autism advisory committee was supposed to be about a new strategic plan that would reshape autism research. It was, instead, dominated by calls to consider vaccines as a cause for autism. www.statnews.com/2026/08/28/v...
statnews.com
Vaccines take center stage at federal autism advisory committee
Comments about vaccines overshadowed an advisory committee meeting to discuss a plan for boosting federal funding for autism research.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I decided to try making jachnun for Shabbat dinner by putting it in to bake this morning before work and now my whole house and my office smell amazing and I’m starving and it’s not even gonna be done for another 4-5 hours.
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Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to recognize — and the article discusses this — that "underlying conditions" is a very broad category. You may have one even if you don't think of yourself as high risk. See long list here: www.cdc.gov/covid/hcp/cl...
nytimes.com
What to Know About New Covid Vaccines for Fall 2026 (Gift Article)
The shots have been approved for people 65 and older, and for younger people with underlying conditions. Others may be able to get them off label.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
In June, DoJ announced they were withdrawing from Olmstead enforcement. Earlier this month, they took one of their first actions in Florida, withdrawing from an ongoing case to protect medically fragile children. My latest.
19thnews.org
For families of medically fragile children, a policy change threatens the care they need at home
“We have worked so hard to keep him alive, and here we are talking about potentially having to put him into a facility, but there is no facility to keep him alive and safe.”
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Stephanie Kirchgaessner @skirchy.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Exclusive: RFK Jr lied in Senate confirmation hearings, newly revealed documents indicate. Stellar reporting by @bymichellersmith.com based on documents obtained by @theguardian.com and @apnews.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
RFK Jr lied in Senate confirmation hearings, newly revealed documents indicate
Letters obtained by Guardian and AP contradict testimony that 2019 visit to Samoa had ‘nothing to do with vaccines’
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Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Ok. After a bunch of trial and error, I am watching the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee's meeting. I've written about how RFK Jr. picked tons of promoters of crank cures and anti-vaccine theories. Follow along here. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
independent.co.uk
FDA removes warning of crank autism cures–RFK Jr. appoints their promoters
Robert F. KennedyJr. says his new appointees will help him ‘fight autism.’ But, writes Eric Garcia, many of them also contributed to his presidential campaign
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Now that’s a good headline. lol.
americamagazine.org
Why you should study the classics but not kill anyone: Lessons from Donna Tartt’s fiction
Donna Tartt's 'The Secret History' is an engrossing read. But is it also a powerful expression of our human efforts to understand eternal truths?
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NPR @npr.org · 26/08/2026
via @wpln.bsky.social Dolly Parton’s death Tuesday marked the loss of not only an American country music legend, but, also, a major philanthropist.
wpln.org
Dolly Parton's legacy transcends music, from books to scholarships to vaccines
Dolly Parton’s death Tuesday marked the loss of not only an American country music legend, but, also, a major philanthropist.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Dolly Parton did a lot of amazing things, but one that has really touched my life is her Imagination Library. Every month we get a wonderful new book, for free, for our daughter. I got a form while I was still in the hospital to sign her up, and so did every other new mom. What a gift.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
This is really reinforcing the “Zohran Mamdani hired a bunch of straight guy staffers” reporting.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 23/08/2026
Fun fact: So convinced were white officials in 1963 that the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on the national mall would bring lawless and violent hordes of Black people that they imposed an emergency ban on alcohol sales in all of DC and neighboring Montgomery and PG counties.
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Tessa Duvall @tessaduvall.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
🚨 Kentucky has announced the finalists in its "I Voted" sticker contest. 🚨 Per the Secretary of State: Kentuckians can vote for their favorite sticker at the SOS's booth at the State Fair from August 20-30.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I am proud to call Julia and her family friends. She has spent her entire adult life loyally serving her country, and the way she had been treated in the past few years is unconscionable.
theatlantic.com
The Wrong Kind of American
The Trump White House needed me—until the fact that I am trans became public.
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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
So annoyed at Washington Post using "special needs" in a headline today despite AP stylebook saying to avoid using it...starting five years ago.
A mother has spent years caring for her special-needs child. The toll quietly grew.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 16/08/2026
After a 2011 sexual abuse scandal, the national sports organization AAU pledged to implement “historic child protection measures” for the hundreds of thousands of kids in its care. But ProPublica and @washingtonpost.com found that most of these reforms were never implemented.
propublica.org
A Youth Sports Giant Promised Reforms to Protect Kids From Sexual Abuse. Most Never Happened.
More than a decade after the Amateur Athletic Union promised to implement “historic child protection measures,” it still hasn’t done so, leaving hundreds of thousands of kids at risk. Some AAU athlete...
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jasmine mithani @jazzmyth.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Everyone is talking about Flock but I've been reading the same article for 15 years about different technologies so I rage wrote about it for @19thnews.org 19thnews.org/2026/08/floc...
19thnews.org
Flock is just the latest example of using surveillance to stalk women
The technology is under fire for how police officers have abused it. But it’s only the symptom of a larger problem.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma had rewired my entire brain chemistry. I have never felt like a movie was more for me specifically.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Everyone is laughing at this and fair enough, but I cannot stress how much this has sucked for blind and low vision people. I know, public transit is better. But US is extremely car-centric. Actual self-driving cars would change lives.
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Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
With my colleague Roni Rabin, I dug into the evidence around Covid vaccine safety in pregnancy, and broke down a statistic about miscarriage that has been repeatedly debunked but was still widely circulated again this week.
nytimes.com
Covid Vaccines Are Not Linked to Miscarriage. Here’s How We Know. (Gift Article)
Prominent Republicans and others have falsely claimed this week that the shots are linked, despite years of data showing they are safe.
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Matthew Remski @matthewremski.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Inflammation is an important and necessary part of the body’s healing process. It’s also long been a wellness buzzword used to sell products that do very little to treat it. Featuring @juliametraux.bsky.social. www.conspirituality.net/episodes/321-inflammation-pseudoscience
conspirituality.net
321: Inflammation Pseudoscience — Conspirituality
Inflammation is an important and necessary part of the body’s healing process. It’s also long been a wellness buzzword used to sell products that do very little to treat it. This week, we look at infl...
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Ken Armstrong @bykenarmstrong.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
If you read only one story today, please make it this one. Paywall is lifted. So is the registration wall. By Olivia Carville for @bloomberg.com @businessweek.bsky.social
bloomberg.com
TikTok Withheld a Safety Feature From Millions. One Died by Suicide
A confidential document says an algorithm adjustment was kept from many users “by design,” as part of an experiment to measure engagement.
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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Inflammatory disorders can be brutal. I’d know personally (thanks vasculitis et al). But the misinformation, including on vaccines, is dangerous. A deep dive from me into how MAHA sped up the inflammation panic. New from me at @motherjones.com www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
The Great Inflammation panic
The wellness world's favorite buzzword has gone federal. For those of us with real inflammatory disorders, the misinformation isn't just annoying—it's harmful.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
NEW: ICE has drastically increased the number of people from whom it’s collecting DNA to enter into an FBI criminal database, including children as young as 4 and 5. @dmehro.bsky.social w/ the scoop. No paywall bc FOIA: www.wired.com/story/ice-dn...
wired.com
ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year—Including Young Children
Internal documents show ICE's DNA collection has skyrocketed in the second Trump administration. Now hundreds of thousands of people never convicted of a crime are in an FBI criminal database forever.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Avatar Aang’s animation is gorgeous and I’m sad we probably won’t get to see it on the big screen.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I am kind of curious about why more Paralympians or former Paralympians haven’t run for office in the US. It seems like a career that would lend itself to that sort of thing.
nytimes.com
Obama Endorses Josh Turek in Iowa Senate Race With Basketball Video
The former president is trying to help Josh Turek net a Senate seat in Iowa, which Democrats see as one of their best pickup opportunities of the midterms.
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Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Good morning, I'm watching the Fauci hearing www.nytimes.com/live/2026/07...
Fauci Hearing

2 minutes ago
Maggie Astor

Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, has opened the hearing with a diatribe against Dr. Anthony Fauci, repeating his longstanding, unsubstantiated claims that the coronavirus originated in a lab and that Fauci and other officials covered it up. Ahead of the hearing, Paul released portions of Fauci’s diary that don’t prove the claims he’s making.
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TechCrunch @techcrunch.com · 25/07/2026
At libraries around the country, "Avoiding AI" workshops have elicited unprecedented demand.
techcrunch.com
Librarians are hosting viral 'Avoiding AI' workshops for people who are fed up with Big Tech | TechCrunch
At libraries around the country, "Avoiding AI" workshops have elicited unprecedented demand.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
An absolutely blistering and necessary rejoinder about the limits of representation and visibility from @steveway.bsky.social
time.com
The Contradiction at the Heart of Disability in America
America loves seeing disabled people. It doesn’t want to pay to keep us alive, writes Steve Way.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
I got an iron deficiency diagnosis after months of feeling like exhausted garbage, and the more I read about women and iron deficiency and the way doctors treat us, the madder I get.
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Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Potential 2028 Presidential candidates who put out a statement commemorating the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act: -Wes Moore -JB Pritzker Ones who did not: -Kamala Harris -Gavin Newsom -AOC -Jon Ossoff #ADA36
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John Moe @johnmoe.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
It’s really hard not to be sour when a bigger outlet just happens to talk to the sources you interviewed first instead of crediting your reporting.
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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Journalists rarely talk to people with Alzheimer's disease. Reporting this out for @19thnews.org was fascinating.
19thnews.org
An Alzheimer’s diagnosis changed their lives. They decided how.
Women make up two-thirds of Alzheimer's diagnoses. Three women share how catching it early let them take control of what comes next.
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19thnews @19thnews.org · 22/07/2026
The irony of the use of the character, comic book experts told The 19th, is that Judge Dredd was never meant to be an aspirational figure. The character’s creators aimed to present an over-the-top dark-comedy critique of authoritarianism, police brutality and the stoic alpha male.
19thnews.org
Trump is reshaping immigration courts with help from a brutal comic book character
DHS used the authoritarian comic book character Judge Dredd to recruit immigration judges, as the Trump administration fires hundreds of sitting judges.
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Chabeli Carrazana @chabeli.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
The world may have moved on from Minneapolis but its immigrant community continues to struggle. We spoke to single mothers who hid from ICE for months, ran through their savings, and now can’t pay to renew their DACA applications. At least dozens are in this situation. 19thnews.org/2026/07/ice-...
19thnews.org
Single mothers lost months of income hiding from ICE — and now can’t afford to renew immigration papers
They survived ICE's takeover in Minneapolis. But now their DACA protections are set to expire, leaving dozens scrambling to afford hundreds of dollars in fees to maintain their legal status.
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
very interesting context
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